diff --git a/roles/StackStorm.st2/handlers/main.yml b/roles/StackStorm.st2/handlers/main.yml
index b2b40213..a8211948 100644
--- a/roles/StackStorm.st2/handlers/main.yml
+++ b/roles/StackStorm.st2/handlers/main.yml
@@ -8,27 +8,32 @@
 - name: reload st2
   become: yes
   command: st2ctl reload --register-all
+  when: "'st2actionrunner' in st2_services"
 
 - name: restart st2actionrunner
   become: yes
   service:
     name: st2actionrunner
     state: restarted
+  when: "'st2actionrunner' in st2_services"
 
 - name: restart st2auth
   become: yes
   service:
     name: st2auth
     state: restarted
+  when: "'st2auth' in st2_services"
 
 - name: restart st2api
   become: yes
   service:
     name: st2api
     state: restarted
+  when: "'st2api' in st2_services"
 
 - name: restart st2stream
   become: yes
   service:
     name: st2stream
     state: restarted
+  when: "'st2stream' in st2_services"
diff --git a/roles/StackStorm.st2/tasks/main.yml b/roles/StackStorm.st2/tasks/main.yml
index 794147b7..507f5dbb 100644
--- a/roles/StackStorm.st2/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/StackStorm.st2/tasks/main.yml
@@ -87,14 +87,13 @@
 - name: Install additional Python packages into the st2 virtualenv
   become: yes
   pip:
-    name: "{{ item }}"
+    name: "{{ st2_python_packages }}"
     virtualenv: /opt/stackstorm/st2
     state: present
   register: _task
   retries: 5
   delay: 3
   until: _task is succeeded
-  with_items: "{{ st2_python_packages }}"
   notify:
     - restart st2
   tags: st2
@@ -142,6 +141,14 @@
   loop: "{{ st2_services }}"
   tags: st2
 
+- name: Modify st2ctl to only control the given services
+  become: yes
+  lineinfile:
+    path: /opt/stackstorm/st2/bin/st2ctl
+    regexp: '^COMPONENTS='
+    line: "COMPONENTS=\"{{ st2_services | join (' ') }}\""
+  tags: st2
+
 # Since flush handlers does not support conditionals, we need to have a dedicated playbook
 # https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/41313#issuecomment-520891625
 - name: Flush handlers to prepare StackStorm if there are packs to install
diff --git a/roles/StackStorm.st2smoketests/tasks/main.yml b/roles/StackStorm.st2smoketests/tasks/main.yml
index a7c74217..333f48b8 100644
--- a/roles/StackStorm.st2smoketests/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/StackStorm.st2smoketests/tasks/main.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
   changed_when: no
   tags:
     - smoke-tests
+  when: "'st2actionrunner' in st2_services"
 
 - name: st2 installed
   command: st2 --version