diff --git a/.drone.jsonnet b/.drone.jsonnet
index 2c4541c62..3858b7cd3 100644
--- a/.drone.jsonnet
+++ b/.drone.jsonnet
@@ -396,23 +396,13 @@ local Pipeline(branch, platform, event, arch="amd64", server="10.6-enterprise",
     name: "dockerfile",
     depends_on: ["publish pkg", "publish cmapi build"],
     image: "alpine/git:2.49.0",
+    volumes: [pipeline._volumes.mdb],
     environment: {
-      DOCKER_BRANCH_REF: "${DRONE_SOURCE_BRANCH}",
-      DOCKER_REF_AUX: branch_ref,
+      DRONE_SOURCE_BRANCH: "${DRONE_SOURCE_BRANCH}",
     },
     commands: [
-      // compute branch.
-      'echo "$$DOCKER_REF"',
-      'echo "$$DOCKER_BRANCH_REF"',
-      // if DOCKER_REF is empty, try to see whether docker repository has a branch named as one we PR.
-      'export DOCKER_REF=$${DOCKER_REF:-$$(git ls-remote https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-columnstore-docker --h --sort origin "refs/heads/$$DOCKER_BRANCH_REF" | grep -E -o "[^/]+$$")}',
-      'echo "$$DOCKER_REF"',
-      // DOCKER_REF can be empty if there is no appropriate branch in docker repository.
-      // assign what is appropriate by default.
-      "export DOCKER_REF=$${DOCKER_REF:-$$DOCKER_REF_AUX}",
-      'echo "$$DOCKER_REF"',
-      "git clone --branch $$DOCKER_REF --depth 1 https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-columnstore-docker docker",
-      "touch docker/.secrets",
+      "apk add bash && " +
+      get_build_command("clone_docker_repo.sh"),
     ],
   },
   dockerhub:: {
@@ -485,7 +475,6 @@ local Pipeline(branch, platform, event, arch="amd64", server="10.6-enterprise",
       MCS_IMAGE_NAME: "mariadb/enterprise-columnstore-dev:" + container_tags[0],
     },
     commands: [
-      "echo $$DOCKER_PASSWORD | docker login --username $$DOCKER_LOGIN --password-stdin",
       "apk add bash && " +
       get_build_command("run_multi_node_mtr.sh") +
       " --columnstore-image-name $${MCS_IMAGE_NAME} " +
diff --git a/build/clone_docker_repo.sh b/build/clone_docker_repo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4daeae3cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/clone_docker_repo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -eo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_LOCATION=$(dirname "$0")
+source "$SCRIPT_LOCATION"/utils.sh
+
+
+# Determine which branch to use
+DOCKER_REF="${DOCKER_REF:-}"
+DOCKER_BRANCH_REF="${DRONE_SOURCE_BRANCH:-stable-23.10}"
+DOCKER_REF_AUX="stable-23.10"
+
+message "Checking for docker repository branch: $DOCKER_BRANCH_REF"
+
+# Try to find matching branch in docker repository
+if [[ -z "$DOCKER_REF" ]]; then
+    DOCKER_REF=$(git ls-remote https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-columnstore-docker --heads --sort origin "refs/heads/$DOCKER_BRANCH_REF" 2>/dev/null | grep -E -o "[^/]+$" || true)
+fi
+
+# Fall back to default branch if no match found
+if [[ -z "$DOCKER_REF" ]]; then
+    DOCKER_REF="$DOCKER_REF_AUX"
+fi
+
+message "Cloning docker repository from branch: $DOCKER_REF"
+
+# Remove existing docker folder if it exists to avoid git clone conflicts
+if [[ -d "docker" ]]; then
+    message "Removing existing docker folder..."
+    rm -rf docker
+fi
+
+# Clone the docker repository
+git clone --branch "$DOCKER_REF" --depth 1 https://github.com/mariadb-corporation/mariadb-columnstore-docker docker
+
+# Create empty .secrets file
+touch docker/.secrets
+
+message "Docker repository cloned successfully"
diff --git a/build/run_multi_node_mtr.sh b/build/run_multi_node_mtr.sh
index 19829bd92..0739bd065 100755
--- a/build/run_multi_node_mtr.sh
+++ b/build/run_multi_node_mtr.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ set -eo pipefail
 SCRIPT_LOCATION=$(dirname "$0")
 source "$SCRIPT_LOCATION"/utils.sh
 
+#usage example: sudo ./run_multi_node_mtr.sh  --columnstore-image-name mariadb/enterprise-columnstore-dev:stable-23.10-pull-request2240  --distro rockylinux:8
 optparse.define short=i long=columnstore-image-name desc="Name of columnstore docker image" variable=MCS_IMAGE_NAME
 optparse.define short=d long=distro desc="Linux distro for which multinode mtr is executed" variable=DISTRO
 source $(optparse.build)
@@ -35,12 +36,76 @@ fi
 
 message "Running multinode mtr tests..."
 
+# Detect docker compose command (new syntax vs old)
+if command -v docker &> /dev/null && docker compose version &> /dev/null; then
+    DOCKER_COMPOSE="docker compose"
+elif command -v docker-compose &> /dev/null; then
+    DOCKER_COMPOSE="docker-compose"
+else
+    error "Docker compose is not installed!"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Handle Docker Hub authentication
+message "Checking Docker Hub authentication..."
+if [[ -n "${DOCKER_LOGIN:-}" ]] && [[ -n "${DOCKER_PASSWORD:-}" ]]; then
+    # CI environment - use credentials from secrets
+    message "Using Docker credentials from environment variables"
+    echo "$DOCKER_PASSWORD" | docker login --username "$DOCKER_LOGIN" --password-stdin
+    if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
+        error "Docker login failed with provided credentials"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+else
+    message "No Docker credentials in env variables found, checking if already logged in..."
+    
+    # Try to verify docker login by checking auth for docker.io
+    if docker system info 2>&1 | grep -q "Username:"; then
+        message "Already logged in to Docker Hub"
+    else
+        message "Not logged in to Docker Hub"
+        message "You need to login to Docker Hub to pull enterprise-columnstore-dev images"
+        message ""
+        
+        # Prompt for username
+        read -p "Docker Hub Username: " docker_username
+        
+        # Run docker login with username (will prompt for password)
+        docker login -u "$docker_username"
+        
+        if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
+            error "Docker login failed or was cancelled"
+            exit 1
+        fi
+        
+        message "Docker login successful"
+    fi
+fi
+
+# Check if docker folder exists and has required files
+if [[ ! -d "docker" ]] || [[ ! -f "docker/Dockerfile" ]]; then
+    message "Docker folder not found or incomplete, cloning mariadb-columnstore-docker repository..."
+    "$SCRIPT_LOCATION"/clone_docker_repo.sh
+fi
+
 cd docker
+
+# Clean up any existing containers from previous runs
+if docker ps -a --format '{{.Names}}' | grep -q -E '^(mcs1|mcs2|mcs3)$'; then
+    message "Found existing containers from previous run, cleaning up..."
+    $DOCKER_COMPOSE down -v 2>/dev/null || true
+    docker rm -f mcs1 mcs2 mcs3 2>/dev/null || true
+    message "Cleanup completed"
+fi
+
 cp .env_example .env
 sed -i "/^MCS_IMAGE_NAME=/s|=.*|=${MCS_IMAGE_NAME}|" .env
 sed -i "/^MAXSCALE=/s|=.*|=false|" .env
 
-docker-compose up -d
+message "Starting containers..."
+$DOCKER_COMPOSE up -d
+
+message "Provisioning cluster..."
 docker exec mcs1 provision mcs1 mcs2 mcs3
 docker cp ../mysql-test/columnstore mcs1:"${MTR_PATH}/suite/"
 docker exec -t mcs1 chown -R mysql:mysql "${MTR_PATH}"