diff --git a/testing/deploy-tenant-upgrade.sh b/testing/deploy-tenant-upgrade.sh
index 9f0ad22ecfe..90072e076bf 100755
--- a/testing/deploy-tenant-upgrade.sh
+++ b/testing/deploy-tenant-upgrade.sh
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ tenant="storage-lite"
 bucket="data"
 dummy="dummy.data"
 localport="9000"
-totalwait=0
 alias="minios3"
 
-# Preparing tenant for bucket manipulation
-function bootstrap_tenant() {
+# Port forward
+function port_forward() {
+  totalwait=0
   echo 'Validating tenant pods are ready to serve'
   for pod in `kubectl --namespace $namespace --selector=v1.min.io/tenant=$tenant get pod -o json |  jq '.items[] | select(.metadata.name|contains("'$tenant'"))| .metadata.name' | sed 's/"//g'`; do
     while true; do
@@ -61,6 +61,15 @@ function bootstrap_tenant() {
   echo "Establishing port-forward"
   kubectl port-forward service/$tenant-hl -n $namespace $localport:$localport &
 
+  echo 'start - wait for port-forward to be completed'
+  sleep 15
+  echo 'end - wait for port-forward to be completed'
+}
+
+# Preparing tenant for bucket manipulation
+function bootstrap_tenant() {
+  port_forward
+
   # Obtain root credentials
   TENANT_CONFIG_SECRET=$(kubectl -n $namespace get tenants $tenant -o jsonpath="{.spec.configuration.name}")
   USER=$(kubectl -n $namespace get secrets "$TENANT_CONFIG_SECRET" -o go-template='{{index .data "config.env"|base64decode }}' | grep 'export MINIO_ROOT_USER="' | sed -e 's/export MINIO_ROOT_USER="//g' | sed -e 's/"//g')
@@ -75,6 +84,8 @@ function bootstrap_tenant() {
 
 # Upload dummy data to tenant bucket
 function upload_dummy_data() {
+  port_forward
+
   echo "Uploading dummy data to tenant bucket"
   cp ${SCRIPT_DIR}/deploy-tenant-upgrade.sh ${SCRIPT_DIR}/$dummy
   mc cp ${SCRIPT_DIR}/$dummy $alias/$bucket/$dummy --insecure
@@ -82,10 +93,12 @@ function upload_dummy_data() {
 
 # Download dummy data from tenant bucket
 function download_dummy_data() {
+  port_forward
+
   echo "Download dummy data from tenant bucket"
   mc cp $alias/$bucket/$dummy ${SCRIPT_DIR}/$dummy --insecure
 
-  if cmp -s "${SCRIPT_DIR}/deploy-tenant-upgrade.sh" "${SCRIPT_DIR}/$dummy"; then
+  if cmp "${SCRIPT_DIR}/deploy-tenant-upgrade.sh" "${SCRIPT_DIR}/$dummy"; then
     echo "Operator upgrade test complete; no issue found"
   else
     echo "Operator upgrade test failed"