diff --git a/.github/workflows/k8s-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/k8s-ci.yml
index f642e5b9a..fff4db990 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/k8s-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/k8s-ci.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 name: K8s CI
 on:
   workflow_call:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - pytest
 
 jobs:
   k8s-ci:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest-8-cores
     steps:
       - name: Bind mount /dev/sda1 to /nix
         run: |
@@ -50,7 +53,7 @@ jobs:
           nix-shell ./scripts/k8s/shell.nix --run "kubectl -n mayastor logs -l app=upgrade --all-containers=true"
 
   k8s-ci-vm:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest-8-cores
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: DeterminateSystems/nix-installer-action@v11
diff --git a/scripts/k8s/setup-io-prereq.sh b/scripts/k8s/setup-io-prereq.sh
index 6bba221d8..b1fb60df9 100755
--- a/scripts/k8s/setup-io-prereq.sh
+++ b/scripts/k8s/setup-io-prereq.sh
@@ -35,7 +35,13 @@ die() {
 }
 
 setup_hugepages() {
-  $SYSCTL -w vm.nr_hugepages="$1"
+  local wanted="$1"
+  $SYSCTL -w vm.nr_hugepages="$wanted"
+  local actual
+  actual=$($SYSCTL -b vm.nr_hugepages)
+  if [ "$actual" != "$wanted" ]; then
+    die "Wanted $wanted hugepages, but only allocated $actual hugepages"
+  fi
 }
 
 modprobe_nvme_tcp() {
@@ -99,7 +105,7 @@ while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; do
 done
 
 if [ -n "$HUGE_PAGES" ]; then
-  pages=$(sysctl -b vm.nr_hugepages)
+  pages=$($SYSCTL -b vm.nr_hugepages)
 
   if [ "$HUGE_PAGES" -gt "$pages" ]; then
     setup_hugepages "$HUGE_PAGES"