diff --git a/.github/workflows/nightly-test.yaml b/.github/workflows/nightly-test.yaml
index 6fd51df14..b769bf434 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nightly-test.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nightly-test.yaml
@@ -18,15 +18,11 @@ jobs:
         release: ["latest/edge"]
       fail-fast: false # TODO: remove once arm64 works
 
-    runs-on: ${{ matrix.arch == 'arm64' && 'Ubuntu_ARM64_4C_16G_01' || 'ubuntu-22.04' }}
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.arch == 'arm64' && 'Ubuntu_ARM64_4C_16G_01' || 'ubuntu-20.04' }}
 
     steps:
       - name: Checking out repo
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
-        with:
-          python-version: '3.12'
-          cache: 'pip'
       - name: Install lxd and tox
         run: |
           sudo apt update
@@ -64,3 +60,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           name: ${{ env.artifact_name }}
           path: ${{ github.workspace }}/inspection-reports.tar.gz
+      - name: Tmate debugging session
+        if: ${{ failure() }}
+        uses: mxschmitt/action-tmate@v3
+        timeout-minutes: 10
diff --git a/tests/integration/templates/etcd/etcd.service b/tests/integration/templates/etcd/etcd.service
index 0ac4e9933..e770666a0 100644
--- a/tests/integration/templates/etcd/etcd.service
+++ b/tests/integration/templates/etcd/etcd.service
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     LimitNOFILE=40000
     TimeoutStartSec=0
 
+    Environment=ETCD_UNSUPPORTED_ARCH=$ARCH
     ExecStart=/tmp/test-etcd/etcd --name $NAME \
     --data-dir /tmp/etcd/s1 \
     --listen-client-urls $CLIENT_URL \
diff --git a/tests/integration/tests/test_util/etcd.py b/tests/integration/tests/test_util/etcd.py
index 44f8a0eee..d53e8ee66 100644
--- a/tests/integration/tests/test_util/etcd.py
+++ b/tests/integration/tests/test_util/etcd.py
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ def add_node(self):
         ]
 
         substitutes = {
+            "ARCH": instance.arch,
             "NAME": instance.id,
             "IP": ip,
             "CLIENT_URL": f"https://{ip}:2379",
@@ -224,13 +225,14 @@ def add_node(self):
                 input=str.encode(src.substitute(substitutes)),
             )
 
+        arch = instance.arch
         instance.exec(
             [
                 "curl",
                 "-L",
-                f"{self.etcd_url}/{self.etcd_version}/etcd-{self.etcd_version}-linux-amd64.tar.gz",
+                f"{self.etcd_url}/{self.etcd_version}/etcd-{self.etcd_version}-linux-{arch}.tar.gz",
                 "-o",
-                f"/tmp/etcd-{self.etcd_version}-linux-amd64.tar.gz",
+                f"/tmp/etcd-{self.etcd_version}-linux-{arch}.tar.gz",
             ]
         )
         instance.exec(["mkdir", "-p", "/tmp/test-etcd"])
@@ -238,7 +240,7 @@ def add_node(self):
             [
                 "tar",
                 "xzvf",
-                f"/tmp/etcd-{self.etcd_version}-linux-amd64.tar.gz",
+                f"/tmp/etcd-{self.etcd_version}-linux-{arch}.tar.gz",
                 "-C",
                 "/tmp/test-etcd",
                 "--strip-components=1",
diff --git a/tests/integration/tests/test_util/harness/base.py b/tests/integration/tests/test_util/harness/base.py
index 829d64511..8111a339d 100644
--- a/tests/integration/tests/test_util/harness/base.py
+++ b/tests/integration/tests/test_util/harness/base.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # Copyright 2024 Canonical, Ltd.
 #
 import subprocess
-from functools import partial
+from functools import cached_property, partial
 
 
 class HarnessError(Exception):
@@ -30,6 +30,12 @@ def __init__(self, h: "Harness", id: str) -> None:
     def id(self) -> str:
         return self._id
 
+    @cached_property
+    def arch(self) -> str:
+        return self.exec(
+            ["dpkg", "--print-architecture"], text=True, capture_output=True
+        ).stdout.strip()
+
     def __str__(self) -> str:
         return f"{self._h.name}:{self.id}"
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/tests/test_version_upgrades.py b/tests/integration/tests/test_version_upgrades.py
index 92ef2437e..d6e7a45b0 100644
--- a/tests/integration/tests/test_version_upgrades.py
+++ b/tests/integration/tests/test_version_upgrades.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 @pytest.mark.node_count(1)
 @pytest.mark.no_setup()
-@pytest.mark.xfail("cilium failures are blocking this from working")
+@pytest.mark.xfail(reason="cilium failures are blocking this from working")
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     not config.VERSION_UPGRADE_CHANNELS, reason="No upgrade channels configured"
 )
@@ -26,10 +26,7 @@ def test_version_upgrades(instances: List[harness.Instance]):
                 "'recent' requires the number of releases as second argument and the flavour as third argument"
             )
         _, num_channels, flavour = channels
-        arch = cp.exec(
-            ["dpkg", "--print-architecture"], text=True, capture_output=True
-        ).stdout.strip()
-        channels = snap.get_latest_channels(int(num_channels), flavour, arch)
+        channels = snap.get_latest_channels(int(num_channels), flavour, cp.arch)
 
     LOG.info(
         f"Bootstrap node on {channels[0]} and upgrade through channels: {channels[1:]}"