diff --git a/.ci/init-el9-ui.sh b/.ci/init-el9-ui.sh
index feb4116a746..effb16fefb3 100755
--- a/.ci/init-el9-ui.sh
+++ b/.ci/init-el9-ui.sh
@@ -32,3 +32,7 @@ python3 ./autoca-client -n -k userkey.pem -c usercert.pem ${AUTOCA_URL} "Kermit
 voms-proxy-init -cert=usercert.pem -key=userkey.pem -voms=desy
 voms-proxy-info -all
 
+# standard location for the proxy
+export X509_USER_PROXY=/tmp/x509up_u$(id -u)
+
+
diff --git a/.ci/init-grid-ui.sh b/.ci/init-grid-ui.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1bddade6fdb..00000000000
--- a/.ci/init-grid-ui.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-#
-# FIXME: enable DESY-local CentOS repo as official repos are down
-#
-
-rm /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo
-
-cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/desy.repo <<EOF
-[desy]
-name=desy
-baseurl=https://nims.desy.de/centos/7/os/x86_64/
-enabled=1
-gpgcheck=0
-
-[desy-extra]
-name=desy-extra
-baseurl=https://nims.desy.de/centos/7/extras/x86_64/
-enabled=1
-gpgcheck=0
-
-[desy-update]
-name=desy-update
-baseurl=https://nims.desy.de/centos/7/updates/x86_64/
-enabled=1
-gpgcheck=0
-
-EOF
-
-
-
-# fail on error
-set -e
-
-AUTOCA_URL=https://ci.dcache.org/ca
-
-yum -q install -y openssl libtool-ltdl glibmm24 libxslt epel-release
-yum -q install -y fetch-crl
-
-rpm -i https://www.desy.de/~tigran/ca_dCacheORG-3.0-6.noarch.rpm
-rpm -i https://linuxsoft.cern.ch/wlcg/centos7/x86_64/desy-voms-all-1.0.0-1.noarch.rpm
-
-curl https://repository.egi.eu/sw/production/cas/1/current/repo-files/egi-trustanchors.repo -o /etc/yum.repos.d/egi-trustanchors.repo
-
-yum -y install ca_USERTrustRSACertificationAuthority \
-  ca_ResearchandEducationTrustRSARootCA \
-  ca_GEANTeScienceSSLCA4 \
-  ca_USERTrustECCCertificationAuthority \
-  ca_GEANTeScienceSSLECCCA4 \
-  ca_GEANTTCSAuthenticationRSACA4B
-
-
-curl --silent https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kofemann/autoca/v1.0-py2/pyclient/autoca-client -o autoca-client && chmod a+x autoca-client
-./autoca-client -n -k userkey.pem -c usercert.pem https://ci.dcache.org/ca "Kermit the frog"
-
-. /cvmfs/grid.cern.ch/centos7-umd4-ui-4_200423/etc/profile.d/setup-c7-ui-example.sh
-export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/cvmfs/grid.cern.ch/centos7-umd4-ui-4_200423/usr/lib64/dcap:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-
-# Since we rely on our dCache.org CA, which is not present
-# in CVMFS, we need to manually alter X509_CERT_DIR to
-# a local path that contains the CACerts from CVMFS and
-# additionally the dCache.org CACerts
-export X509_CERT_DIR=/etc/grid-security/certificates
-export X509_VOMS_DIR=/etc/grid-security/vomsdir/
-
-/usr/sbin/fetch-crl
-
-arcproxy -C usercert.pem -K userkey.pem  -T ${X509_CERT_DIR} --vomses=${VOMS_USERCONF} --vomsdir=${X509_VOMS_DIR} --voms=desy
-arcproxy -I
diff --git a/.ci/run-grid-tests.sh b/.ci/run-grid-tests.sh
index e8abf4e102e..11bbbe85755 100755
--- a/.ci/run-grid-tests.sh
+++ b/.ci/run-grid-tests.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-. /init-grid-ui.sh
+. /init-el9-ui.sh
 
-yum install -y -q git-core python3-pip boost-python
+dnf install -y -q git-core python3-pip
+dnf install -y -q https://www.dcache.org/old/downloads/1.9/repo/9.2/dcache-srmclient-9.2.0-1.noarch.rpm
+dnf install -y -q dcap gfal2-all python3-gfal2-util
 
 # version that works with centos7
 pip3 install robotframework==3.2.2
@@ -31,7 +33,7 @@ TESTS="DccpTests GlobusurlcpTests SrmlsTests"
 declare -i ERRORS=0
 
 for name in $TESTS; do
-  robot -o ${name}_output --variable SRM_VERSION:2 --name ${name} -x /xunit/xunit-${name}.xml ${name}.robot || ERRORS+=$?
+  robot -o ${name}_output --name ${name} -x /xunit/xunit-${name}.xml ${name}.robot || ERRORS+=$?
 done
 
 exit $ERRORS
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.ci/run-webdav-tests.sh b/.ci/run-webdav-tests.sh
index 40ba824bc66..aa145327044 100755
--- a/.ci/run-webdav-tests.sh
+++ b/.ci/run-webdav-tests.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-. /init-grid-ui.sh
+. /init-el9-ui.sh
 
-yum install -y -q python36-urllib3
+dnf install -y -q python3-urllib3
 
 
 export DFTS_SUT=https://store-door-svc.$(cat /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace).svc.cluster.local:8083
diff --git a/.ci/run-xroot-tests.sh b/.ci/run-xroot-tests.sh
index 3aa3926c09d..dc81b7ba2fd 100755
--- a/.ci/run-xroot-tests.sh
+++ b/.ci/run-xroot-tests.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-. /init-grid-ui.sh
+. /init-el9-ui.sh
+
+dnf -y -q install xrootd-client
 
 xrdcp -f /etc/profile xroot://store-door-svc:1095//data/testfile
 
diff --git a/.ci/webdav-wn-cvmfs.yaml b/.ci/webdav-wn-cvmfs.yaml
index 67ba39ede1c..d6dfc4c6b33 100644
--- a/.ci/webdav-wn-cvmfs.yaml
+++ b/.ci/webdav-wn-cvmfs.yaml
@@ -5,17 +5,6 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   containers:
     - name: tester
-      image: centos:7
+      image: almalinux:9
       imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
-      command: [ "/bin/sleep", "inf"]
-      volumeMounts:
-        - name: cvmfs
-          mountPath: /cvmfs
-          # CVMFS automount volumes must be mounted with HostToContainer mount propagation.
-          mountPropagation: HostToContainer
-  volumes:
-    - name: cvmfs
-      persistentVolumeClaim:
-        claimName: cvmfs
-
-
+      command: [ "/bin/sleep", "inf"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs-xroot.yaml b/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs-xroot.yaml
index 94e4e32945f..30c828b0ad5 100644
--- a/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs-xroot.yaml
+++ b/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs-xroot.yaml
@@ -5,17 +5,6 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   containers:
     - name: tester
-      image: centos:7
+      image: almalinux:9
       imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
       command: [ "/bin/sleep", "inf"]
-      volumeMounts:
-        - name: cvmfs
-          mountPath: /cvmfs
-          # CVMFS automount volumes must be mounted with HostToContainer mount propagation.
-          mountPropagation: HostToContainer
-  volumes:
-    - name: cvmfs
-      persistentVolumeClaim:
-        claimName: cvmfs
-
-
diff --git a/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs.yaml b/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs.yaml
index 220e9cbc0b7..6151d87677f 100644
--- a/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs.yaml
+++ b/.ci/wn-with-cvmfs.yaml
@@ -5,17 +5,7 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   containers:
     - name: tester
-      image: centos:7
+      image: almalinux:9
       imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
       command: [ "/bin/sleep", "inf"]
-      volumeMounts:
-        - name: cvmfs
-          mountPath: /cvmfs
-          # CVMFS automount volumes must be mounted with HostToContainer mount propagation.
-          mountPropagation: HostToContainer
-  volumes:
-    - name: cvmfs
-      persistentVolumeClaim:
-        claimName: cvmfs
-
 
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 125de5e3e57..4620c58b46f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -421,12 +421,6 @@ Deploy 3rd party infrastructure services:
     - helm -n ${K8S_NAMESPACE} install ${HELM_OPTS} --wait cells bitnami/zookeeper
     - helm -n ${K8S_NAMESPACE} install ${HELM_OPTS} --wait --set externalZookeeper.servers=cells-zookeeper --set kraft.enabled=false billing bitnami/kafka --version 23.0.7
 
-Add CVMFS Volume:
-  stage: test_infra
-  extends: .kubernetes_image
-  script:
-    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE apply -f .ci/cvmfs-volume-storageclass-pvc.yaml
-
 #
 # Start Current dCache version and an old pools
 #
@@ -445,26 +439,13 @@ Deploy dCache Helm Chart:
     - helm -n ${K8S_NAMESPACE} install ${HELM_OPTS} --wait --set image.tag=9.2.20 --set "dcache.pools={d,f}" --set dcache.door.enabled=false --set image.repository=${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE} old-store dcache/dcache
 
 
-#
-# Grid tests expects cluster-wide cvmfs volumes to be present.
-#
-# The deployment can be done as:
-#
-#  kubectl create -f .ci/cvmfs-storageclass.yaml
-#  helm repo add cern https://registry.cern.ch/chartrepo/cern
-#  helm repo update
-#  helm -n dcache-dev-infrastructure install -f .ci/values-cvmfs.yaml cvmfs cern/cvmfs-csi
-#
-# More info: https://github.com/cvmfs-contrib/cvmfs-csi/tree/master/docs
-#
-Grid EL7 WN tests:
+Grid EL9 WN tests:
   stage: testing
   extends: .kubernetes_image
   script:
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE apply -f .ci/wn-with-cvmfs.yaml
     - while ! kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE wait --for=condition=Ready pod grid-tester; do sleep 1; done
-    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE exec grid-tester -- ls /cvmfs/grid.cern.ch/umd-c7wn-latest/etc/profile.d/setup-c7-wn-example.sh
-    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/init-grid-ui.sh grid-tester:/init-grid-ui.sh
+    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/init-el9-ui.sh grid-tester:/init-el9-ui.sh
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/run-grid-tests.sh grid-tester:/run-grid-tests.sh
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE exec grid-tester -- /bin/sh /run-grid-tests.sh
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp grid-tester:/xunit .
@@ -497,8 +478,7 @@ gsi_xroot_tests:
   script:
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE apply -f .ci/wn-with-cvmfs-xroot.yaml
     - while ! kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE wait --for=condition=Ready pod xroot-tester; do sleep 1; done
-    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE exec xroot-tester -- ls /cvmfs/grid.cern.ch/umd-c7wn-latest/etc/profile.d/setup-c7-wn-example.sh
-    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/init-grid-ui.sh xroot-tester:/init-grid-ui.sh
+    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/init-el9-ui.sh xroot-tester:/init-el9-ui.sh
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/run-xroot-tests.sh xroot-tester:/run-xroot-tests.sh
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE exec xroot-tester -- /bin/sh /run-xroot-tests.sh
 
@@ -508,8 +488,7 @@ webdav_with_x509_tests:
   script:
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE apply -f .ci/webdav-wn-cvmfs.yaml
     - while ! kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE wait --for=condition=Ready pod webdav-tester; do sleep 1; done
-    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE exec webdav-tester -- ls /cvmfs/grid.cern.ch/umd-c7wn-latest/etc/profile.d/setup-c7-wn-example.sh
-    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/init-grid-ui.sh webdav-tester:/init-grid-ui.sh
+    - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/init-el9-ui.sh webdav-tester:/init-el9-ui.sh
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE cp .ci/run-webdav-tests.sh webdav-tester:/run-webdav-tests.sh
     - kubectl -n $K8S_NAMESPACE exec webdav-tester -- /bin/sh /run-webdav-tests.sh