diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 6517ae83..3ebe76bb 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -57,6 +57,11 @@ install:
   - export DEBUG_FLAGS="-g0";
   - export RELEASE_FLAGS="-O0 -DNDEBUG";
   - export LINKER_FLAGS="-s"
+  # grpc.
+  - git clone -b v1.12.0 https://github.com/grpc/grpc
+  - pushd grpc && git submodule update --init && make -j4 && sudo make install &&
+    cd third_party/protobuf && sudo make install && popd
+  - rm -rf grpc
 
 before_script:
   - $CC --version
@@ -77,14 +82,15 @@ before_script:
            -D CMAKE_LINKER=$CLINKER
            -D USE_TCMALLOC=0
            -D VECTOR_COPY_ELISION_LEVEL=$VECTOR_COPY_ELISION_LEVEL
-           -D ENABLE_COMPARISON_INLINE_EXPANSION=OFF ..)
+           -D ENABLE_COMPARISON_INLINE_EXPANSION=OFF
+           -D ENABLE_DISTRIBUTED=ON ..)
 
 script:
   - ./lint_everything.py
   - ./validate_cmakelists.py
   - ./cyclic_dependency.py
   - (cd build && make)
-  - (cd build && ctest --output-on-failure -E NetworkUtil_unittest -j$TEST_JOBS)
+  - (cd build && ctest --output-on-failure -R distributed -j$TEST_JOBS)
 
 after_failure:
   - df -h
@@ -107,8 +113,6 @@ addons:
       - g++-5
       - clang-3.7
       - binutils-gold
-      - libprotobuf-dev
-      - protobuf-compiler
       - libgtest-dev
       - python-networkx
       - libnuma-dev