diff --git a/tests/ci/README.md b/tests/ci/README.md
index 964bc68a10..c9f0615ae9 100644
--- a/tests/ci/README.md
+++ b/tests/ci/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ This document provides an overview of the CI implementation that has been set up
   - CPU requests/limit, Memory request/limits and PVC storage are decreased so that RHOBS can be deployed on smaller clusters.
   - Number of replicas for components is decreased as well in order for the deployment to not be too resource heavy.
   - Objects names like service accounts, storage classes, secrets are replaced to work with local environment.
+  - Templates that require external certs are replaced by dummy generated ones.
   > :bulb: **Note:** These parameters can be edited accordingly and as per the requirement in `<namespace>.test.ci.env` files.
 
 ### Build Process
diff --git a/tests/ci/ci_test.sh b/tests/ci/ci_test.sh
index 234d22dc42..9512800942 100755
--- a/tests/ci/ci_test.sh
+++ b/tests/ci/ci_test.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 
 ARTIFACT_DIR="${ARTIFACT_DIR:-/tmp/artifacts}"
+NS=(minio dex observatorium observatorium-metrics telemeter observatorium-logs observatorium-mst observatorium-tools rhelemeter)
 check_status() {
+    echo "checking rollout status of $1 inside $2 namespace"
     oc rollout status $1 -n $2 --timeout=5m || {
         must_gather "$ARTIFACT_DIR"
         exit 1
@@ -17,14 +19,9 @@ prereq() {
 }
 
 ns() {
-    oc create ns minio || true
-    oc create ns dex || true
-    oc create ns observatorium-metrics || true
-    oc create ns observatorium || true
-    oc create ns telemeter || true
-    oc create ns rhelemeter || true
-    oc create ns observatorium-logs || true
-    oc create ns observatorium-mst || true
+    for ns in "${NS[@]}"; do
+        oc create ns $ns || true
+    done
 }
 
 minio() {
@@ -56,7 +53,7 @@ observatorium_metrics() {
 }
 
 observatorium_tools(){
-    oc create ns observatorium-tools || true
+    oc wait --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}=Active' namespace/observatorium-tools --timeout=5s
     oc apply --namespace observatorium-tools -f ../deploy/manifests/observatorium-tools-network-policy.yaml
     oc process --param-file=env/logging.test.ci.env -f ../../resources/services/meta-monitoring/logging-template.yaml | oc apply --namespace observatorium-tools -f -
 }
@@ -90,12 +87,13 @@ telemeter() {
 
 rhelemeter() {
     oc wait --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}=Active' namespace/rhelemeter --timeout=5s
-    oc process -f --param-file=env/rhelemeter.test.ci.env \
-        -f ../../resources/services/rhelemeter-template.yaml | \
-        oc apply --namespace rhelemeter -f -
+    oc process -f --param-file=env/rhelemeter.test.ci.env -p RHELEMETER_EXTERNAL_MTLS_CA="$(cat ../deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/ca.crt)" \
+        RHELEMETER_EXTERNAL_MTLS_CRT="$(cat ../deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.crt)" RHELEMETER_EXTERNAL_MTLS_KEY="$(cat ../deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.key)" \
+        -f ../../resources/services/rhelemeter-template.yaml | oc apply --namespace rhelemeter -f -
 }
 
 observatorium_logs() {
+    oc wait --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}=Active' namespace/observatorium-logs --timeout=5s
     oc apply --namespace observatorium-logs -f ../deploy/manifests/observatorium-logs-secret.yaml
     oc process --param-file=env/observatorium-logs.test.ci.env -f \
         ../../resources/services/observatorium-logs-template.yaml | \
@@ -103,13 +101,13 @@ observatorium_logs() {
 }
 
 run_test() {
-    for namespace in minio dex observatorium observatorium-metrics observatorium-logs telemeter ; do
+    for ns in "${NS[@]}" ; do
         resources=$(
-            oc get statefulsets -o name -n $namespace
-            oc get deployments -o name -n $namespace
+            oc get statefulsets -o name -n $ns
+            oc get deployments -o name -n $ns
         )
         for res in $resources; do
-            check_status $res $namespace
+            check_status $res $ns
         done
     done
     oc apply -n observatorium -f manifests/test-tenant.yaml
@@ -133,19 +131,19 @@ run_test() {
 must_gather() {
     local artifact_dir="$1"
 
-    for namespace in minio dex observatorium observatorium-metrics telemeter; do
-        mkdir -p "$artifact_dir/$namespace"
+    for ns in "${NS[@]}"; do
+        mkdir -p "$artifact_dir/$ns"
 
-        for name in $(oc get pods -n "$namespace" -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}') ; do
-            oc -n "$namespace" describe pod "$name" > "$artifact_dir/$namespace/$name.describe"
-            oc -n "$namespace" get pod "$name" -o yaml > "$artifact_dir/$namespace/$name.yaml"
+        for name in $(oc get pods -n "$ns" -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}') ; do
+            oc -n "$ns" describe pod "$name" > "$artifact_dir/$ns/$name.describe"
+            oc -n "$ns" get pod "$name" -o yaml > "$artifact_dir/$ns/$name.yaml"
 
-            for initContainer in $(oc -n "$namespace" get pod "$name" -o jsonpath='{.spec.initContainers[*].name}') ; do
-                oc -n "$namespace" logs "$name" -c "$initContainer" > "$artifact_dir/$namespace/$name-$initContainer.logs"
+            for initContainer in $(oc -n "$ns" get pod "$name" -o jsonpath='{.spec.initContainers[*].name}') ; do
+                oc -n "$ns" logs "$name" -c "$initContainer" > "$artifact_dir/$ns/$name-$initContainer.logs"
             done
 
-            for container in $(oc -n "$namespace" get pod "$name" -o jsonpath='{.spec.containers[*].name}') ; do
-                oc -n "$namespace" logs "$name" -c "$container" > "$artifact_dir/$namespace/$name-$container.logs"
+            for container in $(oc -n "$ns" get pod "$name" -o jsonpath='{.spec.containers[*].name}') ; do
+                oc -n "$ns" logs "$name" -c "$container" > "$artifact_dir/$ns/$name-$container.logs"
             done
         done
     done
diff --git a/tests/deploy/README.md b/tests/deploy/README.md
index 44a9413bce..bfc1c2562a 100644
--- a/tests/deploy/README.md
+++ b/tests/deploy/README.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ In addition to replacing external dependencies, this directory also includes fil
 - The CPU / memory limits / requests are decreased so that RHOBS can be deployed on smaller clusters as well
 - The number of replicas for components is decreased as well in order for the deployment to not be too resources heavy
 - Some further object names (e.g. service accounts, images, secrets and storage-class) are replaced to work with local alternatives of the external dependencies
+- rhelemeter template that require external certs are replaced by dummy generated ones.
 
 These parameter files can be edited accordingly to accomodate your specific testing scenario.
 
diff --git a/tests/deploy/launch.sh b/tests/deploy/launch.sh
index fb143b42e0..4da68b01c0 100755
--- a/tests/deploy/launch.sh
+++ b/tests/deploy/launch.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 
 set -e
 set -o pipefail
-set -x
 
 role() {
     oc apply -f manifests/observatorium-cluster-role.yaml
@@ -80,7 +79,9 @@ telemeter() {
 
 rhelemeter() {
     oc create ns rhelemeter || true
-    oc process --param-file=env/rhelemeter.test.env -f ../../resources/services/rhelemeter-template.yaml | oc apply --namespace rhelemeter -f -
+    oc process --param-file=env/rhelemeter.test.env -p RHELEMETER_EXTERNAL_MTLS_CA="$(cat manifests/rhelemeter_certs/ca.crt)" \
+        RHELEMETER_EXTERNAL_MTLS_CRT="$(cat manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.crt)" RHELEMETER_EXTERNAL_MTLS_KEY="$(cat manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.key)" \
+        -f ../../resources/services/rhelemeter-template.yaml | oc apply --namespace rhelemeter -f -
 }
 
 teardown() {
diff --git a/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/ca.crt b/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/ca.crt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..611bc8bdff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/ca.crt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
+MIIBDzCBtgIJANecoFgWJpRZMAoGCCqGSM49BAMCMA8xDTALBgNVBAMMBHRlc3Qw
+IBcNMjMwNzE5MDc0ODM2WhgPMzAwOTAzMTIwNzQ4MzZaMA8xDTALBgNVBAMMBHRl
+c3QwWTATBgcqhkjOPQIBBggqhkjOPQMBBwNCAARYZDE4Kz0ys2KvRo7p3e6/P3Yo
+eSkDXJ1DpVWH5+XemuAriGE8pMwij7yTsbmUHHGlnMZNh0Uc+Uiplb5rbeaSMAoG
+CCqGSM49BAMCA0gAMEUCIBYKEb0GBppTsRXrVGJqfrzcgqQhpEXWwhg9LQPfiRce
+AiEAtpGaoRW5KYA30uNZNabK0U9rfrORYLZhN2ovhpm3+Ko=
+-----END CERTIFICATE-----
diff --git a/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.crt b/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.crt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..611bc8bdff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.crt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
+MIIBDzCBtgIJANecoFgWJpRZMAoGCCqGSM49BAMCMA8xDTALBgNVBAMMBHRlc3Qw
+IBcNMjMwNzE5MDc0ODM2WhgPMzAwOTAzMTIwNzQ4MzZaMA8xDTALBgNVBAMMBHRl
+c3QwWTATBgcqhkjOPQIBBggqhkjOPQMBBwNCAARYZDE4Kz0ys2KvRo7p3e6/P3Yo
+eSkDXJ1DpVWH5+XemuAriGE8pMwij7yTsbmUHHGlnMZNh0Uc+Uiplb5rbeaSMAoG
+CCqGSM49BAMCA0gAMEUCIBYKEb0GBppTsRXrVGJqfrzcgqQhpEXWwhg9LQPfiRce
+AiEAtpGaoRW5KYA30uNZNabK0U9rfrORYLZhN2ovhpm3+Ko=
+-----END CERTIFICATE-----
diff --git a/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.key b/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.key
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0bae48a8a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/deploy/manifests/rhelemeter_certs/tls.key
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+-----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY-----
+MHcCAQEEIO5yfP9d0RcEzTTeM732EWnGEqWYlvu+JaOEpRXYsHaloAoGCCqGSM49
+AwEHoUQDQgAEWGQxOCs9MrNir0aO6d3uvz92KHkpA1ydQ6VVh+fl3prgK4hhPKTM
+Io+8k7G5lBxxpZzGTYdFHPlIqZW+a23mkg==
+-----END EC PRIVATE KEY-----