diff --git a/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-main.yaml b/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-main.yaml
index 94aca7b66dab1..17b97b00fe48e 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-main.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-main.yaml
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ tests:
   steps:
     cluster_profile: metal-dpf-doca8
     test:
+    - ref: dpf-hypervisor-load-kubeconfig
     - ref: dpf-hypervisor-network-tests
   timeout: 2h0m0s
 - always_run: false
diff --git a/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-release-4.22.yaml b/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-release-4.22.yaml
index 041860266b718..3f3915d993072 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-release-4.22.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/rh-ecosystem-edge/openshift-dpf/rh-ecosystem-edge-openshift-dpf-release-4.22.yaml
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ tests:
   steps:
     cluster_profile: metal-dpf-doca8
     test:
+    - ref: dpf-hypervisor-load-kubeconfig
     - ref: dpf-hypervisor-network-tests
   timeout: 2h0m0s
 - always_run: false
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/load-kubeconfig/dpf-hypervisor-load-kubeconfig-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/load-kubeconfig/dpf-hypervisor-load-kubeconfig-commands.sh
index 6af2880058a62..1184b47ef8371 100755
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/load-kubeconfig/dpf-hypervisor-load-kubeconfig-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/load-kubeconfig/dpf-hypervisor-load-kubeconfig-commands.sh
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ fi
 # Copy the cluster kubeconfig from the last install dir on the hypervisor
 echo "=== Copying kubeconfig from ${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF} on hypervisor ==="
 scp ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST}:${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}/kubeconfig.${CLUSTER_NAME} /tmp/kubeconfig.${CLUSTER_NAME}
+scp ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST}:${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}/.env "${SHARED_DIR}/.env"
 
 # The kubeconfig's API server is addressed by an internal hostname that is
 # not resolvable from the CI cluster's network. Resolve it from the
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-commands.sh
index ca0278a8ba5ee..700beca2b3152 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-commands.sh
@@ -1,159 +1,19 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
-# Configuration
-REMOTE_HOST="${REMOTE_HOST:-10.6.135.45}"
-CLUSTER_NAME=$(cat "${CLUSTER_PROFILE_DIR}/cluster-name")
+cp "${SHARED_DIR}/.env" .
 
-echo "Setting up SSH access to DPF hypervisor: ${REMOTE_HOST}"
+echo "=== Run DPF Kubernetes Traffic Flow Tests ==="
 
-# Prepare SSH key from Vault (add trailing newline if missing)
-echo "Configuring SSH private key..."
-cat /var/run/dpf-ci/private-key | base64 -d > /tmp/id_rsa
-echo "" >> /tmp/id_rsa
-chmod 600 /tmp/id_rsa
+echo "Verifying cluster access..."
+oc get nodes
 
-# Define SSH command with explicit options (don't rely on ~/.ssh/config)
-SSH_OPTS="-i /tmp/id_rsa -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o LogLevel=ERROR -o ConnectTimeout=30 -o ServerAliveInterval=10 -o ServerAliveCountMax=3 -o BatchMode=yes"
-
-# Test SSH connection
-echo "Testing SSH connection to ${REMOTE_HOST}..."
-if ssh ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST} echo 'SSH connection successful'; then
-    echo "SSH setup complete and tested successfully"
-else
-    echo "ERROR: Failed to connect to hypervisor ${REMOTE_HOST}"
-    echo "Debug information:"
-    echo "- Checking if SSH key exists:"
-    ls -la /tmp/id_rsa
-    echo "- Testing SSH connectivity with verbose output:"
-    ssh -v ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST} echo 'test' || true
-    exit 1
-fi
-
-# Export SSH settings for subsequent steps
-echo "REMOTE_HOST=${REMOTE_HOST}" >> ${SHARED_DIR}/dpf-env
-echo "SSH_OPTS=${SSH_OPTS}" >> ${SHARED_DIR}/dpf-env
-echo "SSH setup completed successfully for ${REMOTE_HOST}"
-
-echo "Remote host: ${REMOTE_HOST}"
-
-datetime_string=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S")
-NETWORK_TESTS_RESULT=""
-
-# Run dpf make target checks test
-REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION="/root/${CLUSTER_NAME}/ci/last-openshift-dpf-dir.sh"
-
-echo "=== DPF Make Target checks on Existing Cluster ==="
-echo "Using openshift-dpf dir from last cluster-deploy: '${REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION}'"
-
-echo "Updating VERIFY_DEPLOYMENT, VERIFY_MAX_RETRIES and VERIFY_SLEEP_SECONDS variable values to true, 4 and 3 respectively in .env file"
-# Using delimiter '|' since we have '/' in the patterns
-if ssh ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST} "set -e; \
-    test -f ${REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION}; \
-    source ${REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION}; \
-    echo \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-    cd \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-    pwd ; \
-    set -e; \
-    test -f .env ; \
-    cat .env | grep VERIFY ; \
-    cp .env .env_orig ; \
-    sed -i 's|VERIFY_DEPLOYMENT=.*|VERIFY_DEPLOYMENT=true|' .env ; \
-    sed -i 's|VERIFY_MAX_RETRIES=.*|VERIFY_MAX_RETRIES=4|' .env ; \
-    sed -i 's|VERIFY_SLEEP_SECONDS=.*|VERIFY_SLEEP_SECONDS=3|' .env ; \
-    cat .env | grep VERIFY"; then
-  echo "VERIFY_DEPLOYMENT, VERIFY_MAX_RETRIES and VERIFY_SLEEP_SECONDS variables updated successfully in .env file"
-else
-  echo "ERROR: Failed to update VERIFY_DEPLOYMENT, VERIFY_MAX_RETRIES and VERIFY_SLEEP_SECONDS variables in .env file"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-
-if ssh ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST} "set -a; \
-    pwd; \
-    ls -ltr; \
-    env; \
-    source ${REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION}; \
-    echo \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-    env; \
-    cd \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-    pwd; \
-    set -e;\
-    export KUBECONFIG=\${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}/kubeconfig.${CLUSTER_NAME}; \
-    oc get co; \
-    oc get nodes; \
-    oc get dpu -A; \
-    oc get application -A; \
-    echo \${KUBECONFIG}; \
-    ls -ltr ; \
-    make verify-workers; \
-    make verify-dpu-nodes; \
-    make verify-deployment; \
-    make verify-dpudeployment; \
-    echo \$? > verification-result"; then
-
-  echo "DPF spot check tests Passed";
-
-else
-  echo "DPF spot checks tests Failed";
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-
-echo "=== Run DPF Kubernetes Traffic Flow Tests on Existing Cluster ==="
-
-# Need to export the dpu-workers after they are renamed, on hypervisor:
-# export TFT_SERVER_NODE=worker-303ea713ea90
-# export TFT_CLIENT_NODE=worker-303ea713ea94
-
-if ssh ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST} "set -euo pipefail; \
-  ls -ltr; \
-  env; \
-  source ${REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION}; \
-  echo \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-  env; \
-  cd \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-  pwd; \
-  ls -ltra; \
-  set -e;\
-  export KUBECONFIG=\${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}/kubeconfig.${CLUSTER_NAME}; \
-  oc get nodes; \
-  export TFT_SERVER_NODE=\$(oc get nodes | grep worker-dpu | awk 'NR==1 {print \$1}'); \
-  echo \${TFT_SERVER_NODE} ;\
-  export TFT_CLIENT_NODE=\$(oc get nodes | grep worker-dpu | awk 'NR==2 {print \$1}'); \
-  echo \${TFT_CLIENT_NODE} ; \
-  source ${REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION}; \
-  echo \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-  make run-traffic-flow-tests 2>&1 | tee log-traffic-flow-tests-${datetime_string}"; then
-
-  echo "Kubernetes Network Traffic Flow Iperf Tests Passed";
-  NETWORK_TESTS_RESULT="PASS"
-
-else
-  echo "Kubernetes Network Traffic Flow Iperf Tests Failed";
-
-fi
-
-echo "====== Output DPF Kubernetes Traffic Flow Tests Log file:"
-if ssh ${SSH_OPTS} root@${REMOTE_HOST} "source ${REMOTE_LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF_DIR_LOCATION}; \
-  echo \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-  env; \
-  cd \${LAST_OPENSHIFT_DPF}; \
-  cat log-traffic-flow-tests-${datetime_string}"; then
-
-  echo "Successfully output Kubernetes Network Traffic Flow Iperf Tests logs";
-
-else
-  echo "Failed to output DPF kubernetes Traffic Flow Iperf Tests logs";
-
-fi
-
-# Parse the log files, may need to scp to container running ssh cmds and process the
-# output file and exit accordingly
-
-if [ "${NETWORK_TESTS_RESULT}" == "PASS" ]; then
-  exit 0
-fi
-
-exit 1
+export TFT_KUBECONFIG="${SHARED_DIR}/kubeconfig"
+TFT_SERVER_NODE=$(oc get nodes --no-headers | grep worker-dpu | awk 'NR==1 {print $1}')
+export TFT_SERVER_NODE
+echo "TFT_SERVER_NODE: ${TFT_SERVER_NODE}"
+TFT_CLIENT_NODE=$(oc get nodes --no-headers | grep worker-dpu | awk 'NR==2 {print $1}')
+export TFT_CLIENT_NODE
+echo "TFT_CLIENT_NODE: ${TFT_CLIENT_NODE}"
 
+make run-traffic-flow-tests
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-ref.yaml
index 5c9358eceb792..577c8ae86a589 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/dpf/hypervisor/network-tests/dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-ref.yaml
@@ -1,29 +1,16 @@
 ref:
   as: dpf-hypervisor-network-tests
   commands: dpf-hypervisor-network-tests-commands.sh
-  credentials:
-  - mount_path: /var/run/dpf-ci
-    name: cluster-secrets-metal-dpf-doca8
-    namespace: ci
   documentation: |-
-    Run Kubernetes Network Flow tests on an EXISTING cluster without provisioning.
+    Run Kubernetes Network Traffic Flow tests on an existing DPF cluster.
 
-    This step:
-    1. Sets up SSH access to hypervisor
-    2. Finds the last DPF cluster install openshift-dpf dir
-    3. Runs 'make run-traffic-flow-tests' on hypervisor
-    4. Collect and output logs from hypervisor
+    This step expects a kubeconfig at ${SHARED_DIR}/kubeconfig (provided by
+    dpf-hypervisor-load-kubeconfig) and runs 'make run-traffic-flow-tests'
+    from the dpf-ci image.
 
-    Use this for quick validation on doca8 or other existing clusters.
     Does NOT create or destroy any cluster resources.
 
-    Required Vault secrets:
-    - private-key: SSH key for hypervisor
-
     Expected duration: 60-120 minutes
-  env:
-  - default: "10.6.135.45"
-    name: REMOTE_HOST
   from: dpf-ci
   resources:
     requests: