diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh
index 11cff211d..d76e03293 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/iscsi_tgt.sh
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ if [ $SPDK_TEST_RBD -eq 1 ]; then
 	# RBD tests do not support network namespaces,
 	# they can only be run on posix sockets.
 	if [ "$TEST_TYPE" == "posix" ]; then
+		if ! hash ceph; then
+			echo "ERROR: SPDK_TEST_RBD requested but no ceph installed!"
+			false
+		fi
 		run_test "iscsi_tgt_rbd" ./test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
 	fi
 fi
diff --git a/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh b/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
index 6c498ff0e..3c96a391c 100755
--- a/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
+++ b/test/iscsi_tgt/rbd/rbd.sh
@@ -9,11 +9,6 @@ source $rootdir/test/iscsi_tgt/common.sh
 # $2 = test type posix or vpp. defaults to posix.
 iscsitestinit $1 $2
 
-if ! hash ceph; then
-	echo "Ceph not detected on this system; skipping RBD tests"
-	exit 0
-fi
-
 timing_enter rbd_setup
 rbd_setup $TARGET_IP $TARGET_NAMESPACE
 trap 'rbd_cleanup; exit 1' SIGINT SIGTERM EXIT