diff --git a/roles/taskotron/buildmaster/tasks/main.yml b/roles/taskotron/buildmaster/tasks/main.yml
index 6526db535c..a17e77572b 100644
--- a/roles/taskotron/buildmaster/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/taskotron/buildmaster/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ---
+- name: start httpd (provided in the apache role)
+  service: name=httpd state=started
+
 - name: ensure packages required for buildmaster are installed (yum)
   yum: name={{ item }} state=present enablerepo={{ extra_enablerepos }}
   with_items:
diff --git a/roles/taskotron/execdb/tasks/main.yml b/roles/taskotron/execdb/tasks/main.yml
index 06582d9782..4ac4a5d70d 100644
--- a/roles/taskotron/execdb/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/taskotron/execdb/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ---
+- name: start httpd (provided in the apache role)
+  service: name=httpd state=started
+
 - name: ensure packages required for execdb are installed (yum)
   yum: name={{ item }} state=present
   with_items:
diff --git a/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-backend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-backend/tasks/main.yml
index cc943f0074..9300208186 100644
--- a/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-backend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-backend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ---
+- name: start httpd (provided in the apache role)
+  service: name=httpd state=started
+
 - name: ensure packages required for resultsdb are installed (yum)
   yum: name={{ item }} state=present
   when: ansible_distribution_major_version|int < 22
diff --git a/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-frontend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-frontend/tasks/main.yml
index 220ad63b2f..b2fbeee0bd 100644
--- a/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-frontend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/taskotron/resultsdb-frontend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ---
+- name: start httpd (provided in the apache role)
+  service: name=httpd state=started
+
 - name: ensure packages required for resultsdb_frontend are installed (yum)
   yum: name={{ item }} state=present enablerepo={{ extra_enablerepos }}
   when: ansible_distribution_major_version|int < 22
diff --git a/roles/taskotron/taskotron-master/tasks/main.yml b/roles/taskotron/taskotron-master/tasks/main.yml
index 842e1ed473..d56f59985e 100644
--- a/roles/taskotron/taskotron-master/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/taskotron/taskotron-master/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 ---
+- name: start httpd (provided in the apache role)
+  service: name=httpd state=started
+
 - name: ensure packages required for buildmaster are installed (dnf)
   dnf: name={{ item }} state=present enablerepo={{ extra_enablerepos }}
   with_items:
diff --git a/roles/taskotron/taskotron-proxy/tasks/main.yml b/roles/taskotron/taskotron-proxy/tasks/main.yml
index e602a3b818..aa4ac61864 100644
--- a/roles/taskotron/taskotron-proxy/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/taskotron/taskotron-proxy/tasks/main.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 # one for taskotron and one for resultsdb. The url scheme also stays
 # closer to stg/prod
 ---
+- name: start httpd (provided in the apache role)
+  service: name=httpd state=started
+
 - name: ensure packages required for proxying are installed (yum)
   yum: name={{ item }} state=present enablerepo={{ extra_enablerepos }}
   with_items: