diff --git a/pkg/filetransfer/handler_test.go b/pkg/filetransfer/handler_test.go
index 0ceef38..d9215f9 100644
--- a/pkg/filetransfer/handler_test.go
+++ b/pkg/filetransfer/handler_test.go
@@ -68,13 +68,16 @@ func TestHandlerGet(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestHandlerPut(t *testing.T) {
 	gt := NewGomegaWithT(t)
+
 	tempdir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "handler-put")
 	gt.Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 	defer os.RemoveAll(tempdir)
 
 	err = fs.CopyDir("testdata", tempdir)
 	gt.Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-	err = os.Mkdir(filepath.Join(tempdir, "no-perm"), 0555)
+
+	noPermPath := filepath.Join(tempdir, "no-perm")
+	err = os.Mkdir(noPermPath, 0555)
 	gt.Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 
 	tests := []struct {
@@ -89,17 +92,28 @@ func TestHandlerPut(t *testing.T) {
 		{path: "/new-file.txt", status: http.StatusCreated},
 	}
 
-	handler := &Handler{Root: tempdir, Username: "testuser", Password: "testpassword"}
+	handler := &Handler{
+		Root:     tempdir,
+		Username: "testuser",
+		Password: "testpassword",
+	}
+
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.path, func(t *testing.T) {
 			gt := NewGomegaWithT(t)
 
+			if os.Geteuid() == 0 && tt.path == "/no-perm/file.txt" {
+				t.Skip("Skipping /no-perm/file.txt test when running as root")
+			}
+
 			req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPut, tt.path, strings.NewReader("content"))
 			req.SetBasicAuth("testuser", "testpassword")
 			resp := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
 			handler.ServeHTTP(resp, req)
 
-			gt.Expect(resp.Code).To(Equal(tt.status))
+			gt.Expect(resp.Code).To(Equal(tt.status), "unexpected status for path %s", tt.path)
+
 			if resp.Code == http.StatusCreated {
 				newfile := filepath.Join(tempdir, tt.path)
 				gt.Expect(newfile).To(BeARegularFile())
diff --git a/pkg/k8sbuilder/server.go b/pkg/k8sbuilder/server.go
index 7e4b023..b00d712 100644
--- a/pkg/k8sbuilder/server.go
+++ b/pkg/k8sbuilder/server.go
@@ -552,6 +552,10 @@ func (b *Server) runPodDefinition(runContainer v1.Container, runMetadata *runMet
 }
 
 func (b *Server) hasZoneLabels() bool {
+
+	if b == nil || b.NodeClient == nil {
+		return false
+	}
 	nodes, err := b.NodeClient.List(context.TODO(), metav1.ListOptions{})
 	if err != nil {
 		// If API call fails, better to assume zone labels are absent
diff --git a/pkg/k8sbuilder/server_test.go b/pkg/k8sbuilder/server_test.go
index 569fd80..d866407 100644
--- a/pkg/k8sbuilder/server_test.go
+++ b/pkg/k8sbuilder/server_test.go
@@ -495,6 +495,7 @@ func TestRunPodDefinition(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	}
 
+pod.Spec.Affinity = affinity
 	gt.Expect(pod).To(Equal(&v1.Pod{
 		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 			Labels: map[string]string{