diff --git a/net/net.sh b/net/net.sh
index 000cf9f9415d33..aaaf964207b1de 100755
--- a/net/net.sh
+++ b/net/net.sh
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ build() {
 
     buildVariant=
     if $debugBuild; then
-      buildVariant=debug
+      buildVariant=--debug
     fi
 
     $MAYBE_DOCKER bash -c "
@@ -862,6 +862,10 @@ while getopts "h?T:t:o:f:rc:Fn:i:d" opt "${shortArgs[@]}"; do
       releaseChannel=$OPTARG
       deployMethod=tar
       ;;
+    local)
+      # just pass-through to use default values for $deployMethod and $doBuild
+      true
+      ;;
     *)
       usage "Invalid release channel: $OPTARG"
       ;;
diff --git a/net/remote/remote-node.sh b/net/remote/remote-node.sh
index 897a0ec2307c9d..ab071485fafc11 100755
--- a/net/remote/remote-node.sh
+++ b/net/remote/remote-node.sh
@@ -283,8 +283,12 @@ EOF
       --entrypoint "$entrypointIp:8001"
       --gossip-port 8001
       --rpc-port 8899
-      --expected-shred-version "$(cat config/shred-version)"
     )
+    if [[ -f config/shred-version && -s config/shred-version ]]; then
+      args+=(
+        --expected-shred-version "$(cat config/shred-version)"
+      )
+    fi
     if [[ $nodeType = blockstreamer ]]; then
       args+=(
         --blockstream /tmp/solana-blockstream.sock
@@ -374,6 +378,7 @@ cat >> ~/solana/on-reboot <<EOF
     oom_score_adj "\$pid" 1000
     disown
 EOF
+    grep -H ^ ~/solana/on-reboot
     ~/solana/on-reboot
     waitForNodeToInit
 
@@ -423,6 +428,7 @@ cat >> ~/solana/on-reboot <<EOF
     oom_score_adj "\$pid" 1000
     disown
 EOF
+    grep -H ^ ~/solana/on-reboot
     ~/solana/on-reboot
     sleep 1
     ;;
diff --git a/system-test/automation_utils.sh b/system-test/automation_utils.sh
index 581d242631ab40..6e8978dcb7ee5d 100755
--- a/system-test/automation_utils.sh
+++ b/system-test/automation_utils.sh
@@ -18,6 +18,14 @@ function execution_step {
 
 function collect_logs {
   execution_step "Collect logs from remote nodes"
+
+  ls -lR "${REPO_ROOT}"/net/log/
+  for logfile in "${REPO_ROOT}"/net/log/*validator*; do
+    (
+      upload-ci-artifact "$logfile"
+    )
+  done
+
   rm -rf "${REPO_ROOT}"/net/log
   "${REPO_ROOT}"/net/net.sh logs
   for logfile in "${REPO_ROOT}"/net/log/*; do
diff --git a/system-test/testnet-automation.sh b/system-test/testnet-automation.sh
index 613cb4860556e7..03fd4a367f0aa9 100755
--- a/system-test/testnet-automation.sh
+++ b/system-test/testnet-automation.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -e
 
+NDEBUG="${NDEBUG-1}"
+export NDEBUG
+
 # shellcheck disable=SC1090
 # shellcheck disable=SC1091
 source "$(dirname "$0")"/automation_utils.sh
@@ -121,9 +124,17 @@ function launch_testnet() {
 
   execution_step "Starting bootstrap node and ${NUMBER_OF_VALIDATOR_NODES} validator nodes"
   if [[ -n $CHANNEL ]]; then
+    if [[ -z $NDEBUG ]]; then
+      maybeDebug=--debug
+    fi
+    # Our build machne is on Azure which supports AVX512 but colos don't support AVX512.
+    # So, turn off simd at all as a work around to correctly cross-compile
+    if [[ -n $CI && $CLOUD_PROVIDER == "colo" && $CHANNEL == "local" ]]; then
+      sed -i 's/"simd-accel"//g' "${REPO_ROOT}"/ledger/Cargo.toml
+    fi
     # shellcheck disable=SC2068
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-    "${REPO_ROOT}"/net/net.sh start -t "$CHANNEL" \
+    "${REPO_ROOT}"/net/net.sh start -t "$CHANNEL" $maybeDebug \
       -c idle=$NUMBER_OF_CLIENT_NODES $maybeStartAllowBootFailures \
       --gpu-mode $startGpuMode
   else