diff --git a/wizard-common/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/api/ValidationException.java b/wizard-common/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/api/ValidationException.java
index aaa6769..b2f6a11 100644
--- a/wizard-common/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/api/ValidationException.java
+++ b/wizard-common/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/api/ValidationException.java
@@ -11,9 +11,12 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import static org.cobbzilla.util.daemon.ZillaRuntime.empty;
+
 public class ValidationException extends ApiException {
 
     @Getter private Map<String, ConstraintViolationBean> violations;
+    public boolean hasViolations () { return !empty(violations); }
 
     public ValidationException (RestResponse response) { this(null, response); }
 
diff --git a/wizard-server-test/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizardtest/resources/AbstractResourceIT.java b/wizard-server-test/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizardtest/resources/AbstractResourceIT.java
index 4167443..1e18297 100644
--- a/wizard-server-test/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizardtest/resources/AbstractResourceIT.java
+++ b/wizard-server-test/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizardtest/resources/AbstractResourceIT.java
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractResourceIT<C extends PgRestServerConfiguration, S
     protected boolean dropDb(C config, String dbName, boolean background) throws IOException { return notSupported("dropDb: must be defined in subclass"); }
 
     @Override public void beforeStart(RestServer<C> server) {
-        if (useTestSpecificDatabase() && server.getConfiguration() instanceof HasDatabaseConfiguration) {
+        if (useTestSpecificDatabase()) {
             final String dbName = ((HasDatabaseConfiguration) server.getConfiguration()).getDatabase().getDatabaseName();
             if (dropPreExistingDatabase()) {
                 try {
@@ -249,6 +249,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractResourceIT<C extends PgRestServerConfiguration, S
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 if (allowPreExistingDatabase()) {
                     log.warn("beforeStart: error creating database: " + dbName+": "+e);
+                    server.getConfiguration().getDatabase().getHibernate().setHbm2ddlAuto("validate");
                 } else {
                     die("beforeStart: error creating database: " + dbName + ": " + e);
                 }