diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 6de58c103..041317ddc 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ addons:
       secure: "PfhLGBKRgNqhKuYCJsK+VPhdAzcgWFGeeOyxC/eS8gtlvIISVdgyZE+r30uIei0DFI6zEiN62eW4d+xtT4j7/e2ZcAcx7U52mza/SnQNuu3nCGQDJB8VOvV5NbnwXfi8vfr4e889Mt7k3ocd2c4gqB4UtRqrzhygj7HN+B/GfEk="
 env:
   matrix:
-    # - ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION="7.5.1-amd64" COVERAGE=true RAILS_ENV=test # Future target (production needs upgrading)
+    - ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION="7.5.1-amd64" COVERAGE=true RAILS_ENV=test # Future target (production needs upgrading)
     # - ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION="6.7.1" COVERAGE=true RAILS_ENV=test # last 6.x release
     - ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION="6.2.3" COVERAGE=true RAILS_ENV=test # matches productions
     - STATIC_CHECKS=true
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@ before_install:
   - sudo apt clean
   - sudo apt update
   - sudo apt install dpkg
+  - ./script/install_elasticsearch.sh
   - sudo apt install google-chrome-stable
   - ./script/install_linters.sh
-  - ./script/install_elasticsearch.sh
+  - ./script/check_elasticsearch.sh
 script:
   - >
     if [ "${STATIC_CHECKS}" = "true" ]; then
diff --git a/script/check_elasticsearch.sh b/script/check_elasticsearch.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..5f1c45a50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/check_elasticsearch.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [[ -z "$ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION" ]]; then
+  echo "ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION variable not set"
+else
+  host="localhost:9200"
+  response=""
+  attempt=0
+  maxattempts=25
+
+  # this would wait forever
+  # until curl --silent -XGET --fail ${host} do printf '.'; sleep 1; done
+
+  until [ "$response" = "200" ]; do
+      if [ $attempt -ge ${maxattempts} ]; then
+        echo "FAILED. Elasticsearch not responding after $attempt tries."
+        sudo tail /var/log/elasticsearch/*.log
+        exit 1
+      fi
+      echo "Contacting Elasticsearch on ${host}. Try number ${attempt}"
+      response=$(curl --write-out %{http_code} --silent --output /dev/null $host)
+
+      sleep 1
+      attempt=$((attempt+1))
+  done
+
+  echo "SUCCESS. Elasticsearch is responding."
+fi
diff --git a/script/install_elasticsearch.sh b/script/install_elasticsearch.sh
index ba533782e..d040e241a 100755
--- a/script/install_elasticsearch.sh
+++ b/script/install_elasticsearch.sh
@@ -12,33 +12,19 @@ else
 
   shasum -a 512 -c "elasticsearch-${ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION}.deb.sha512"
 
+
   echo "Installing Elasticsearch ${ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION}"
   sudo dpkg -i --force-confnew "elasticsearch-${ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION}.deb"
 
+  if [[ $ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION == 7\.* ]]; then
+    # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55951531/running-elasticsearch-7-0-on-a-travis-xenial-build-host
+    sudo sed -i.old 's/-Xms1g/-Xms128m/' /etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options
+    sudo sed -i.old 's/-Xmx1g/-Xmx128m/' /etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options
+    echo -e '-XX:+DisableExplicitGC\n-Djdk.io.permissionsUseCanonicalPath=true\n-Dlog4j.skipJansi=true\n-server\n' | sudo tee -a /etc/elasticsearch/jvm.options
+    sudo chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch /etc/default/elasticsearch
+  fi
+
   echo "Starting Elasticsearch ${ELASTIC_SEARCH_VERSION}"
   # sudo service elasticsearch start
   sudo systemctl start elasticsearch
-
-  host="localhost:9200"
-  response=""
-  attempt=0
-  maxattempts=25
-
-  # this would wait forever
-  # until curl --silent -XGET --fail ${host} do printf '.'; sleep 1; done
-
-  until [ "$response" = "200" ]; do
-      if [ $attempt -ge ${maxattempts} ]; then
-        echo "FAILED. Elasticsearch not responding after $attempt tries."
-        sudo tail /var/log/elasticsearch/*.log
-        exit 1
-      fi
-      echo "Contacting Elasticsearch on ${host}. Try number ${attempt}"
-      response=$(curl --write-out %{http_code} --silent --output /dev/null $host)
-
-      sleep 1
-      attempt=$((attempt+1))
-  done
 fi
-
-echo "SUCCESS. Elasticsearch is responding."