diff --git a/exercises/floating_ips.sh b/exercises/floating_ips.sh
index dd40aa0b05..82f29eb441 100755
--- a/exercises/floating_ips.sh
+++ b/exercises/floating_ips.sh
@@ -121,8 +121,8 @@ IP=`nova show $VM_UUID | grep "private network" | get_field 2`
 die_if_not_set IP "Failure retrieving IP address"
 
 # for single node deployments, we can ping private ips
-MULTI_HOST=${MULTI_HOST:-0}
-if [ "$MULTI_HOST" = "0" ]; then
+MULTI_HOST=`trueorfalse False $MULTI_HOST`
+if [ "$MULTI_HOST" = "False" ]; then
     # sometimes the first ping fails (10 seconds isn't enough time for the VM's
     # network to respond?), so let's ping for a default of 15 seconds with a
     # timeout of a second for each ping.
diff --git a/exercises/quantum.sh b/exercises/quantum.sh
index 943a07d7ee..817811214e 100755
--- a/exercises/quantum.sh
+++ b/exercises/quantum.sh
@@ -255,8 +255,8 @@ function ping_vms {
     export OS_PASSWORD=nova
     PUBLIC_IP2=`nova show $VM_UUID2 | grep public-net1 | awk '{print $5}'`
 
-    MULTI_HOST=${MULTI_HOST:-0}
-    if [ "$MULTI_HOST" = "0" ]; then
+    MULTI_HOST=`trueorfalse False $MULTI_HOST`
+    if [ "$MULTI_HOST" = "False" ]; then
         # sometimes the first ping fails (10 seconds isn't enough time for the VM's
         # network to respond?), so let's ping for a default of 15 seconds with a
         # timeout of a second for each ping.
diff --git a/exercises/volumes.sh b/exercises/volumes.sh
index b62427fce3..6749558a21 100755
--- a/exercises/volumes.sh
+++ b/exercises/volumes.sh
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@ IP=`nova show $VM_UUID | grep "private network" | get_field 2`
 die_if_not_set IP "Failure retrieving IP address"
 
 # for single node deployments, we can ping private ips
-MULTI_HOST=${MULTI_HOST:-0}
-if [ "$MULTI_HOST" = "0" ]; then
+MULTI_HOST=`trueorfalse False $MULTI_HOST`
+if [ "$MULTI_HOST" = "False" ]; then
     # sometimes the first ping fails (10 seconds isn't enough time for the VM's
     # network to respond?), so let's ping for a default of 15 seconds with a
     # timeout of a second for each ping.
diff --git a/stack.sh b/stack.sh
index 71c5ffc46e..f657fe3db0 100755
--- a/stack.sh
+++ b/stack.sh
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ TEST_FLOATING_RANGE=${TEST_FLOATING_RANGE:-192.168.253.0/29}
 # **MULTI_HOST** is a mode where each compute node runs its own network node.  This
 # allows network operations and routing for a VM to occur on the server that is
 # running the VM - removing a SPOF and bandwidth bottleneck.
-MULTI_HOST=${MULTI_HOST:-False}
+MULTI_HOST=`trueorfalse False $MULTI_HOST`
 
 # If you are using FlatDHCP on multiple hosts, set the ``FLAT_INTERFACE``
 # variable but make sure that the interface doesn't already have an