diff --git a/Lib/slapdtest/_slapdtest.py b/Lib/slapdtest/_slapdtest.py
index 4110d945..970a05a6 100644
--- a/Lib/slapdtest/_slapdtest.py
+++ b/Lib/slapdtest/_slapdtest.py
@@ -259,7 +259,6 @@ def _find_commands(self):
         self.PATH_LDAPDELETE = self._find_command('ldapdelete')
         self.PATH_LDAPMODIFY = self._find_command('ldapmodify')
         self.PATH_LDAPWHOAMI = self._find_command('ldapwhoami')
-        self.PATH_SLAPADD = self._find_command('slapadd')
 
         self.PATH_SLAPD = os.environ.get('SLAPD', None)
         if not self.PATH_SLAPD:
@@ -276,7 +275,7 @@ def _find_command(self, cmd, in_sbin=False):
         if command is None:
             raise ValueError(
                 "Command '{}' not found. Set the {} environment variable to "
-                "override slapdtest's search path.".format(cmd, var_name)
+                "override slapdtest's search path: {}.".format(cmd, var_name, path)
             )
         return command
 
@@ -347,6 +346,7 @@ def gen_config(self):
             'cafile': self.cafile,
             'servercert': self.servercert,
             'serverkey': self.serverkey,
+            'slapd_path': self.SBIN_PATH,
         }
         return self.slapd_conf_template % config_dict
 
@@ -407,12 +407,17 @@ def _start_slapd(self):
             '-F', self._slapd_conf,
             '-h', ' '.join(urls),
         ]
+        stderr = None
         if self._log.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG):
             slapd_args.extend(['-d', '-1'])
+            stderr = os.open(os.path.join(self.testrundir, 'slapd.log'), os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREAT)
         else:
             slapd_args.extend(['-d', '0'])
         self._log.info('starting slapd: %r', ' '.join(slapd_args))
-        self._proc = subprocess.Popen(slapd_args)
+        self._proc = subprocess.Popen(slapd_args, stderr=stderr)
+        if stderr is not None:
+            os.close(stderr)
+            stderr = None
         # Waits until the LDAP server socket is open, or slapd crashed
         deadline = time.monotonic() + 10
         # no cover to avoid spurious coverage changes, see
@@ -452,7 +457,7 @@ def start(self):
                 self._proc.pid, self.ldap_uri, self.ldapi_uri
             )
 
-    def stop(self):
+    def stop(self, cleanup=True):
         """
         Stops the slapd server, and waits for it to terminate and cleans up
         """
@@ -460,7 +465,8 @@ def stop(self):
             self._log.debug('stopping slapd with pid %d', self._proc.pid)
             self._proc.terminate()
             self.wait()
-        self._cleanup_rundir()
+        if cleanup:
+            self._cleanup_rundir()
         atexit.unregister(self.stop)
 
     def restart(self):
@@ -508,14 +514,17 @@ def _cli_auth_args(self):
 
     # no cover to avoid spurious coverage changes
     def _cli_popen(self, ldapcommand, extra_args=None, ldap_uri=None,
-                   stdin_data=None):  # pragma: no cover
+                   stdin_data=None, tool=None):  # pragma: no cover
         if ldap_uri is None:
             ldap_uri = self.default_ldap_uri
 
         if ldapcommand.split("/")[-1].startswith("ldap"):
             args = [ldapcommand, '-H', ldap_uri] + self._cli_auth_args()
         else:
-            args = [ldapcommand, '-F', self._slapd_conf]
+            if tool:
+                args = [ldapcommand, '-T', tool, '-F', self._slapd_conf]
+            else:
+                args = [ldapcommand, '-F', self._slapd_conf]
 
         args += (extra_args or [])
 
@@ -574,9 +583,10 @@ def slapadd(self, ldif, extra_args=None):
         Runs slapadd on this slapd instance, passing it the ldif content
         """
         self._cli_popen(
-            self.PATH_SLAPADD,
+            self.PATH_SLAPD,
             stdin_data=ldif.encode("utf-8") if ldif else None,
             extra_args=extra_args,
+            tool='add'
         )
 
     def __enter__(self):
@@ -584,7 +594,7 @@ def __enter__(self):
         return self
 
     def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback):
-        self.stop()
+        self.stop(exc_type is None)
 
 
 class SlapdTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -613,4 +623,4 @@ def setUpClass(cls):
 
     @classmethod
     def tearDownClass(cls):
-        cls.server.stop()
+        cls.server.stop(False)