diff --git a/Framework/KubernetesWorkflow/K8sNameUtils.cs b/Framework/KubernetesWorkflow/K8sNameUtils.cs
index c888870..65c2228 100644
--- a/Framework/KubernetesWorkflow/K8sNameUtils.cs
+++ b/Framework/KubernetesWorkflow/K8sNameUtils.cs
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@
                 .Replace("]", "-")
                 .Replace(",", "-");
 
-            return result.Trim('-');
+            result = result.Trim('-');
+            if (result.Length > 62) result = result.Substring(0, 62);
+
+            return result;
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/ProjectPlugins/CodexPlugin/LocalCodexBuilder.cs b/ProjectPlugins/CodexPlugin/LocalCodexBuilder.cs
index 5e4b2d0..bd86442 100644
--- a/ProjectPlugins/CodexPlugin/LocalCodexBuilder.cs
+++ b/ProjectPlugins/CodexPlugin/LocalCodexBuilder.cs
@@ -70,21 +70,34 @@ namespace CodexNetDeployer
         {
             var dockerPassword = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DOCKERPASSWORD");
 
-            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(dockerUsername) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(dockerPassword))
+            try
             {
-                Log("Environment variable 'DOCKERPASSWORD' not provided.");
-                Log("Trying system default...");
-                Docker("login");
+                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(dockerUsername) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(dockerPassword))
+                {
+                    Log("Environment variable 'DOCKERPASSWORD' not provided.");
+                    Log("Trying system default...");
+                    Docker("login");
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    Docker("login", "-u", dockerUsername, "-p", dockerPassword);
+                }
             }
-            else
+            catch
             {
-                Docker("login", "-u", dockerUsername, "-p", dockerPassword);
+                Log("Docker login failed.");
+                Log("Please check the docker username and password provided by the constructor arguments and/or");
+                Log("set by 'DOCKERUSERNAME' and 'DOCKERPASSWORD' environment variables.");
+                Log("Note: You can use a docker access token as DOCKERPASSWORD.");
+                throw;
             }
         }
 
         private string GenerateImageName()
         {
-            return $"{dockerUsername!}/nim-codex-autoimage:{Guid.NewGuid().ToString().ToLowerInvariant()}";
+            var tag = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DOCKERTAG");
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(tag)) return $"{dockerUsername!}/nim-codex-autoimage:{Guid.NewGuid().ToString().ToLowerInvariant()}";
+            return $"{dockerUsername}/nim-codex-autoimage:{tag}";
         }
 
         private void Docker(params string[] args)
diff --git a/Tests/CodexTests/CodexDistTest.cs b/Tests/CodexTests/CodexDistTest.cs
index 32c6ec2..f2e863d 100644
--- a/Tests/CodexTests/CodexDistTest.cs
+++ b/Tests/CodexTests/CodexDistTest.cs
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 using CodexContractsPlugin;
+using CodexNetDeployer;
 using CodexPlugin;
 using Core;
 using DistTestCore;
 using DistTestCore.Helpers;
+using DistTestCore.Logs;
 using GethPlugin;
 using NUnit.Framework.Constraints;
 
@@ -20,6 +22,13 @@ namespace Tests
             ProjectPlugin.Load<MetricsPlugin.MetricsPlugin>();
         }
 
+        protected override void Initialize(FixtureLog fixtureLog)
+        {
+            var localBuilder = new LocalCodexBuilder(fixtureLog);
+            localBuilder.Intialize();
+            localBuilder.Build();
+        }
+
         public ICodexNode AddCodex()
         {
             return AddCodex(s => { });
diff --git a/Tests/DistTestCore/DistTest.cs b/Tests/DistTestCore/DistTest.cs
index 8e9932a..95e69a9 100644
--- a/Tests/DistTestCore/DistTest.cs
+++ b/Tests/DistTestCore/DistTest.cs
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ namespace DistTestCore
             statusLog = new StatusLog(logConfig, startTime);
 
             globalEntryPoint = new EntryPoint(fixtureLog, configuration.GetK8sConfiguration(new DefaultTimeSet(), TestNamespacePrefix), configuration.GetFileManagerFolder());
+
+            Initialize(fixtureLog);
         }
 
         [OneTimeSetUp]
@@ -140,6 +142,10 @@ namespace DistTestCore
             Stopwatch.Measure(Get().Log, name, action);
         }
 
+        protected virtual void Initialize(FixtureLog fixtureLog)
+        {
+        }
+
         protected TestLifecycle Get()
         {
             lock (lifecycleLock)
diff --git a/Tools/CodexNetDeployer/Configuration.cs b/Tools/CodexNetDeployer/Configuration.cs
index fa94c15..3ec20bf 100644
--- a/Tools/CodexNetDeployer/Configuration.cs
+++ b/Tools/CodexNetDeployer/Configuration.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 using ArgsUniform;
 using CodexPlugin;
-using static Org.BouncyCastle.Math.EC.ECCurve;
 
 namespace CodexNetDeployer
 {
@@ -16,7 +15,8 @@ namespace CodexNetDeployer
         public string KubeNamespace { get; set; } = string.Empty;
 
         [Uniform("codex-local-repo", "cr", "CODEXLOCALREPOPATH", false, "If set, instead of using the default Codex docker image, the local repository will be used to build an image. " +
-            "This requires the 'DOCKERUSERNAME' and 'DOCKERPASSWORD' environment variables to be set.")]
+            "This requires the 'DOCKERUSERNAME' and 'DOCKERPASSWORD' environment variables to be set. (You can omit the password to use your system default, or use a docker access token as DOCKERPASSWORD.) You can set " +
+            "'DOCKERTAG' to define the image tag. If not set, one will be generated.")]
         public string CodexLocalRepoPath { get; set; } = string.Empty;
 
         [Uniform("nodes", "n", "NODES", true, "Number of Codex nodes to be created.")]
@@ -65,35 +65,7 @@ namespace CodexNetDeployer
         [Uniform("check-connect", "cc", "CHECKCONNECT", false, "If true, deployer check ensure peer-connectivity between all deployed nodes after deployment. Default is false.")]
         public bool CheckPeerConnection { get; set; } = false;
 
-        public Configuration()
-        {
-            //        dotnet run \
-            //--kube - config =/ opt / kubeconfig.yaml \
-            //--kube -namespace=codex-continuous-tests \
-            //--nodes=5 \
-            //--validators=3 \
-            //--log-level=Trace \
-            //--storage-quota=2048 \
-            //--storage-sell=1024 \
-            //--min-price=1024 \
-            //--max-collateral=1024 \
-            //--max-duration=3600000 \
-            //--block-ttl=180 \
-            //--block-mi=120 \
-            //--block-mn=10000 \
-            //--metrics=1 \
-            //--check-connect=1
-
-            KubeNamespace = "autodockertest";
-            NumberOfCodexNodes = 3;
-            NumberOfValidators = 1;
-            StorageQuota = 2048;
-            StorageSell = 1024;
-
-            CodexLocalRepoPath = "D:/Projects/nim-codex";
-        }
-
-    public List<string> Validate()
+        public List<string> Validate()
         {
             var errors = new List<string>();