diff --git a/CICD/plays/testlustre/testlustre.yml b/CICD/plays/testlustre/testlustre.yml
index 265539317a19bea87e2faf505fd0c0940a010eff..6011c7aad2dc22b2303d86e95b40ea392e55da32 100644
--- a/CICD/plays/testlustre/testlustre.yml
+++ b/CICD/plays/testlustre/testlustre.yml
@@ -93,11 +93,15 @@
       state: mounted
 
 - hosts: 'LoginNodes' # this does not work. we need to config_repos first
-#  vars_files: 
-#    - vars/vars.yml 
+  tasks:
+  - include_vars: vars/vars_centos78.yml
+
+- hosts: 'LoginNodes'
   roles:
   - { role: config_repos, tags: [ repos ] }
-    
+  - { role: upgrade, tags: [ upgrade ] } # upgrade from centos7.6 base image to centos7.8
+  - { role: mellanox_drivers, start_roce_service: false }
+  
 - hosts: 'LoginNodes' # this does not work. we need to config_repos first
   tasks:
   - name: install rpms
diff --git a/CICD/plays/testlustre/vars b/CICD/plays/testlustre/vars
index e8d9a6429b3aaab679b98557469104f0f7cc952b..8559d2e08fc22c0c466a5bf80d980a2c6a859437 120000
--- a/CICD/plays/testlustre/vars
+++ b/CICD/plays/testlustre/vars
@@ -1 +1 @@
-../vars
\ No newline at end of file
+../../vars
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/roles/mellanox_drivers/tasks/main.yml b/roles/mellanox_drivers/tasks/main.yml
index 1b7f585811a5b345ed92d249c8e0123c607ecf01..88fc029ddc2f5b68ddbc39ea678acceb7dbcea42 100644
--- a/roles/mellanox_drivers/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/mellanox_drivers/tasks/main.yml
@@ -147,4 +147,5 @@
 
 - name: enable roce_mode setting
   service: name=roce_mode state=started enabled=yes
-  become: true
\ No newline at end of file
+  become: true
+  when: start_roce_service is undefined or start_roce_service is true