diff --git a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.py b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.py
index a191180cf44f..c9d023d832eb 100644
--- a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.py
+++ b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def test_daos_agent_config_basic(self):
         :avocado: tags=all,daily_regression
         :avocado: tags=vm
         :avocado: tags=control,basic
-        :avocado: tags=agent_start,daos_agent_config_test,test_daos_agent_config_basic
+        :avocado: tags=DaosAgentConfigTest,test_daos_agent_config_basic
         """
         # Setup the agents
         self.add_agent_manager()
diff --git a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.yaml b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.yaml
index b6d8c22619d1..e3ead4665160 100644
--- a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.yaml
+++ b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_agent_config.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ agent_config_val: !mux
     config_val:
       - "name"
       - "! @#$%^&*()_+{}|:<>?-=[];',./"
-      - "PASS"
+      - "FAIL"
   name_alphanumeric:
     config_val:
       - "name"
diff --git a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.py b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.py
index 98044e1a0f54..2757816102e4 100644
--- a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.py
+++ b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def test_daos_control_config_basic(self):
         :avocado: tags=all,daily_regression
         :avocado: tags=vm
         :avocado: tags=control,basic
-        :avocado: tags=control_start,test_daos_control_config_basic
+        :avocado: tags=DaosControlConfigTest,test_daos_control_config_basic
         """
         # Get the input to verify
         c_val = self.params.get("config_val", "/run/control_config_val/*/")
diff --git a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.yaml b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.yaml
index 47e5b86303ab..b07472f0bd34 100644
--- a/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.yaml
+++ b/src/tests/ftest/control/daos_control_config.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ control_config_val: !mux
     config_val:
       - "name"
       - "! @#$%^&*()_+{}|:<>?-=[];',./"
-      - "PASS"
+      - "FAIL"
   name_numeric:
     config_val:
       - "name"
diff --git a/src/tests/ftest/control/version.py b/src/tests/ftest/control/version.py
index ce74549d03e0..525529f2e165 100644
--- a/src/tests/ftest/control/version.py
+++ b/src/tests/ftest/control/version.py
@@ -22,9 +22,26 @@ class DAOSVersion(TestWithServers):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         """Initialize a DAOSVersion object."""
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
-        # Don't waste time starting servers and agents.
-        self.setup_start_servers = False
-        self.setup_start_agents = False
+
+        self.errors = []
+
+    def report_result(self):
+        """Helper printing test result"""
+        self.log.info("###### Test Result ######")
+        report_errors(test=self, errors=self.errors)
+        self.log.info("#########################")
+
+    def append_error(self, title, details):
+        """Helper adding an error to the list of errors
+
+        Args:
+            title (str): Error message title
+            details (list): List of string of the error details
+        """
+        msg = title
+        if details:
+            msg += "\n\t" + "\n\t".join(details)
+        self.errors.append(msg)
 
     def test_version(self):
         """Verify version number for dmg, daos, daos_server, and daos_agent against RPM.
@@ -32,22 +49,29 @@ def test_version(self):
         :avocado: tags=all,full_regression
         :avocado: tags=vm
         :avocado: tags=control,daos_cmd
-        :avocado: tags=version_number,test_version
+        :avocado: tags=DAOSVersion,test_version
         """
-        errors = []
-
         # Get RPM version.
         rpm_command = "rpm -qa|grep daos-server"
         output = run_pcmd(hosts=self.hostlist_servers, command=rpm_command)
-        self.log.info("RPM output = %s", output)
-        stdout = output[0]["stdout"][0]
-        self.log.info("RPM stdout = %s", stdout)
-        result = re.findall(r"daos-server-[tests-|tests_openmpi-]*([\d.]+)", stdout)
+        self.log.debug("RPM output = %s", output)
+        rc = output[0]["exit_status"]
+        stdout = output[0]["stdout"]
+        if rc != 0:
+            msg = "DAOS RPMs not properly installed: rc={}".format(rc)
+            self.append_error(msg, stdout)
+            self.report_result()
+        rpm_version = None
+        for rpm in stdout:
+            result = re.findall(r"daos-server-[tests-|tests_openmpi-]*([\d.]+)", rpm)
+            if result:
+                rpm_version = result[0]
+                break
         if not result:
-            errors.append("RPM version is not in the output! {}".format(output))
-        else:
-            rpm_version = result[0]
-            self.log.info("RPM version = %s", rpm_version)
+            msg = "RPM version could not be defined"
+            self.append_error(msg, stdout)
+            self.report_result()
+        self.log.info("RPM version = %s", rpm_version)
 
         # Get dmg version.
         dmg_version = self.get_dmg_command().version()["response"]["version"]
@@ -58,10 +82,19 @@ def test_version(self):
         self.log.info("daos version = %s", daos_version)
 
         # Get daos_agent version.
+        daos_agent_version = None
         daos_agent_cmd = "daos_agent --json version"
         output = run_pcmd(hosts=self.hostlist_servers, command=daos_agent_cmd)
-        daos_agent_version = json.loads("".join(output[0]["stdout"]))["response"]["version"]
-        self.log.info("daos_agent version = %s", daos_agent_version)
+        self.log.debug("DAOS Agent output = %s", output)
+        rc = output[0]["exit_status"]
+        stdout = output[0]["stdout"]
+        if rc != 0:
+            msg = "DAOS Agent not properly installed: rc={}".format(rc)
+            self.append_error(msg, stdout)
+        else:
+            self.log.info("DAOS Agent stdout = %s", "".join(stdout))
+            daos_agent_version = json.loads("".join(stdout))["response"]["version"]
+            self.log.info("daos_agent version = %s", daos_agent_version)
 
         # Get daos_server version
         daos_server_cmd = DaosServerCommandRunner(path=self.bin)
@@ -82,8 +115,6 @@ def test_version(self):
             if version != rpm_version:
                 msg = "Unexpected version! {} = {}, RPM = {}".format(
                     tool, version, rpm_version)
-                errors.append(msg)
+                self.errors.append(msg)
 
-        self.log.info("###### Test Result ######")
-        report_errors(test=self, errors=errors)
-        self.log.info("#########################")
+        self.report_result()
diff --git a/src/tests/ftest/control/version.yaml b/src/tests/ftest/control/version.yaml
index 18a64049ea3f..6e3a6248e7d2 100644
--- a/src/tests/ftest/control/version.yaml
+++ b/src/tests/ftest/control/version.yaml
@@ -12,3 +12,13 @@ server_config:
           class: ram
           scm_mount: /mnt/daos
   system_ram_reserved: 1
+  transport_config:
+    allow_insecure: true
+
+dmg:
+  transport_config:
+    allow_insecure: true
+
+agent_config:
+  transport_config:
+    allow_insecure: true