diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh
index 65b8981e07c..7e3b15a7069 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ ci-fairy s3cp --token-file "${S3_JWT_FILE}" job-rootfs-overlay.tar.gz "https://$
 section_switch variables "Environment variables passed through to device:"
 cat results/job-rootfs-overlay/set-job-env-vars.sh
 
-ARTIFACT_URL="${FDO_HTTP_CACHE_URI:-}https://${PIPELINE_ARTIFACTS_BASE}/${LAVA_S3_ARTIFACT_NAME:?}.tar.zst"
+ARTIFACT_URL="https://${PIPELINE_ARTIFACTS_BASE}/${LAVA_S3_ARTIFACT_NAME:?}.tar.zst"
 
 section_switch lava_submit "Submitting job for scheduling"
 
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ PYTHONPATH=artifacts/ artifacts/lava/lava_job_submitter.py \
 	--kernel-url-prefix "${KERNEL_IMAGE_BASE}/${DEBIAN_ARCH}" \
 	--kernel-external "${EXTERNAL_KERNEL_TAG}" \
 	--build-url "${ARTIFACT_URL}" \
-	--job-rootfs-overlay-url "${LAVA_HTTP_CACHE_URI:-}https://${JOB_ROOTFS_OVERLAY_PATH}" \
+	--job-rootfs-overlay-url "https://${JOB_ROOTFS_OVERLAY_PATH}" \
 	--job-timeout-min ${JOB_TIMEOUT:-30} \
 	--first-stage-init artifacts/ci-common/init-stage1.sh \
 	--ci-project-dir "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}" \
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/lava_job_definition.py b/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/lava_job_definition.py
index 5c1985db3a1..3674e62547e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/lava_job_definition.py
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/lava_job_definition.py
@@ -64,15 +64,30 @@ class LAVAJobDefinition:
         nfsrootfs = {
             "url": f"{args.rootfs_url_prefix}/lava-rootfs.tar.zst",
             "compression": "zstd",
+            "format": "tar",
+            "overlays": {
+                "mesa-build": {
+                    "url": self.job_submitter.build_url,
+                    "compression": "zstd",
+                    "format": "tar",
+                    "path": self.job_submitter.ci_project_dir
+                },
+                "job-metadata": {
+                    "url": args.job_rootfs_overlay_url,
+                    "compression": "gz",
+                    "format": "tar",
+                    "path": "/"
+                }
+            }
         }
         values = self.generate_metadata()
 
         init_stage1_steps = self.init_stage1_steps()
-        artifact_download_steps = self.artifact_download_steps()
+        jwt_steps = self.jwt_steps()
 
         deploy_actions = []
         boot_action = []
-        test_actions = uart_test_actions(args, init_stage1_steps, artifact_download_steps)
+        test_actions = uart_test_actions(args, init_stage1_steps, jwt_steps)
 
         if args.boot_method == "fastboot":
             deploy_actions = fastboot_deploy_actions(self, nfsrootfs)
@@ -94,7 +109,7 @@ class LAVAJobDefinition:
             wrap_boot_action(boot_action)
             test_actions = (
                 generate_dut_test(args, init_stage1_steps),
-                generate_docker_test(args, artifact_download_steps),
+                generate_docker_test(args, jwt_steps),
             )
 
         values["actions"] = [
@@ -173,39 +188,33 @@ class LAVAJobDefinition:
                 "compression": "zstd"
             }
 
-    def artifact_download_steps(self):
+    def jwt_steps(self):
         """
         This function is responsible for setting up the SSH server in the DUT and to
         export the first boot environment to a file.
         """
-        # Putting JWT pre-processing and mesa download, within init-stage1.sh file,
-        # as we do with non-SSH version.
-        download_steps = [
-            "set -ex",
-            "curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 "
-            f"{self.job_submitter.job_rootfs_overlay_url} | tar -xz -C /",
-            f"mkdir -p {self.job_submitter.ci_project_dir}",
-            f"curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 {self.job_submitter.build_url} | "
-            f"tar --zstd -x -C {self.job_submitter.ci_project_dir}",
+        # Pre-process the JWT
+        jwt_steps = [
+            "set -e",
         ]
 
         # If the JWT file is provided, we will use it to authenticate with the cloud
         # storage provider and will hide it from the job output in Gitlab.
         if self.job_submitter.jwt_file:
             with open(self.job_submitter.jwt_file) as jwt_file:
-                download_steps += [
+                jwt_steps += [
                     "set +x  # HIDE_START",
                     f'echo -n "{jwt_file.read()}" > "{self.job_submitter.jwt_file}"',
                     "set -x  # HIDE_END",
                     f'echo "export S3_JWT_FILE={self.job_submitter.jwt_file}" >> /set-job-env-vars.sh',
                 ]
         else:
-            download_steps += [
+            jwt_steps += [
                 "echo Could not find jwt file, disabling S3 requests...",
                 "sed -i '/S3_RESULTS_UPLOAD/d' /set-job-env-vars.sh",
             ]
 
-        return download_steps
+        return jwt_steps
 
     def init_stage1_steps(self) -> list[str]:
         run_steps = []
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/uart_job_definition.py b/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/uart_job_definition.py
index 64a61d7ff98..be06f61f453 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/uart_job_definition.py
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/lava/utils/uart_job_definition.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ def qemu_deploy_actions(job_definition: "LAVAJobDefinition", nfsrootfs) -> tuple
 
 
 def uart_test_actions(
-    args: "LAVAJobSubmitter", init_stage1_steps: list[str], artifact_download_steps: list[str]
+    args: "LAVAJobSubmitter", init_stage1_steps: list[str], jwt_steps: list[str]
 ) -> tuple[dict[str, Any]]:
     # skeleton test definition: only declaring each job as a single 'test'
     # since LAVA's test parsing is not useful to us
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ def uart_test_actions(
     }
 
     run_steps += init_stage1_steps
-    run_steps += artifact_download_steps
+    run_steps += jwt_steps
 
     run_steps += [
         # Sleep a bit to give time for bash to dump shell xtrace messages into
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml
index 7dbb1d43db9..7045fbf45a2 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,18 @@ actions:
     nfsrootfs:
       url: None/lava-rootfs.tar.zst
       compression: zstd
+      format: tar
+      overlays:
+        mesa-build:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: zstd
+          format: tar
+          path: /ci/project/dir
+        job-metadata:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: gz
+          format: tar
+          path: /
     namespace: dut
 - deploy:
     timeout:
@@ -130,10 +142,7 @@ actions:
           - |-
             lava_ssh_test_case 'artifact_download' 'bash --' << EOF
             source /dut-env-vars.sh
-            set -ex
-            curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar -xz -C /
-            mkdir -p /ci/project/dir
-            curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar --zstd -x -C /ci/project/dir
+            set -e
             echo Could not find jwt file, disabling S3 requests...
             sed -i '/S3_RESULTS_UPLOAD/d' /set-job-env-vars.sh
             EOF
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml
index 231898fe225..76898dc25dc 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/FASTBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,18 @@ actions:
     nfsrootfs:
       url: None/lava-rootfs.tar.zst
       compression: zstd
+      format: tar
+      overlays:
+        mesa-build:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: zstd
+          format: tar
+          path: /ci/project/dir
+        job-metadata:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: gz
+          format: tar
+          path: /
 - deploy:
     timeout:
       minutes: 5
@@ -82,13 +94,7 @@ actions:
         run:
           steps:
           - echo test FASTBOOT
-          - export CURRENT_SECTION=dut_boot
-          - set -ex
-          - curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar -xz
-            -C /
-          - mkdir -p /ci/project/dir
-          - curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar --zstd
-            -x -C /ci/project/dir
+          - set -e
           - echo Could not find jwt file, disabling S3 requests...
           - sed -i '/S3_RESULTS_UPLOAD/d' /set-job-env-vars.sh
           - sleep 1
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml
index 7eed5f493f8..e83ad3c794b 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=False_job_definition.yaml
@@ -27,6 +27,18 @@ actions:
     nfsrootfs:
       url: None/lava-rootfs.tar.zst
       compression: zstd
+      format: tar
+      overlays:
+        mesa-build:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: zstd
+          format: tar
+          path: /ci/project/dir
+        job-metadata:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: gz
+          format: tar
+          path: /
     dtb:
       url: None/my_dtb_filename.dtb
     namespace: dut
@@ -102,10 +114,7 @@ actions:
           - |-
             lava_ssh_test_case 'artifact_download' 'bash --' << EOF
             source /dut-env-vars.sh
-            set -ex
-            curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar -xz -C /
-            mkdir -p /ci/project/dir
-            curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar --zstd -x -C /ci/project/dir
+            set -e
             echo Could not find jwt file, disabling S3 requests...
             sed -i '/S3_RESULTS_UPLOAD/d' /set-job-env-vars.sh
             EOF
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml
index 56b53a7a471..14819cf2943 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/tests/data/UBOOT_force_uart=True_job_definition.yaml
@@ -27,6 +27,18 @@ actions:
     nfsrootfs:
       url: None/lava-rootfs.tar.zst
       compression: zstd
+      format: tar
+      overlays:
+        mesa-build:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: zstd
+          format: tar
+          path: /ci/project/dir
+        job-metadata:
+          url: null # aka None
+          compression: gz
+          format: tar
+          path: /
     dtb:
       url: None/my_dtb_filename.dtb
 - boot:
@@ -57,12 +69,7 @@ actions:
           steps:
           - echo test UBOOT
           - export CURRENT_SECTION=dut_boot
-          - set -ex
-          - curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar -xz
-            -C /
-          - mkdir -p /ci/project/dir
-          - curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 None | tar --zstd
-            -x -C /ci/project/dir
+          - set -e
           - echo Could not find jwt file, disabling S3 requests...
           - sed -i '/S3_RESULTS_UPLOAD/d' /set-job-env-vars.sh
           - sleep 1