diff --git a/src/Connectors/test/Connectors.Test/RelationalDatabaseHealthContributorTest.cs b/src/Connectors/test/Connectors.Test/RelationalDatabaseHealthContributorTest.cs
index 267d293dac..42da1e5d2d 100644
--- a/src/Connectors/test/Connectors.Test/RelationalDatabaseHealthContributorTest.cs
+++ b/src/Connectors/test/Connectors.Test/RelationalDatabaseHealthContributorTest.cs
@@ -111,7 +111,10 @@ public async Task SQLServer_Not_Connected_Returns_Down_Status()
         result.Description.Should().Be("SQL Server health check failed");
         result.Details.Should().Contain("host", "localhost");
         result.Details.Should().Contain("service", "Example");
-        result.Details.Should().ContainKey("error").WhoseValue.As<string>().Should().StartWith("SqlException: Connection Timeout Expired.");
+
+        result.Details.Should().ContainKey("error").WhoseValue.As<string>().Should().Match(exception =>
+            exception.StartsWith("SqlException: Connection Timeout Expired.", StringComparison.Ordinal) ||
+            exception.StartsWith("SqlException: A network-related or instance-specific error", StringComparison.Ordinal));
     }
 
     [Fact(Skip = "Integration test - Requires local SQL Server instance")]
diff --git a/src/Discovery/test/Eureka.Test/EurekaServiceCollectionExtensionsTest.cs b/src/Discovery/test/Eureka.Test/EurekaServiceCollectionExtensionsTest.cs
index 6d22358713..745c012afb 100644
--- a/src/Discovery/test/Eureka.Test/EurekaServiceCollectionExtensionsTest.cs
+++ b/src/Discovery/test/Eureka.Test/EurekaServiceCollectionExtensionsTest.cs
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ public async Task AddEurekaDiscoveryClient_UsesServerTimeout()
         var appSettings = new Dictionary<string, string?>
         {
             ["Eureka:Client:EurekaServer:ConnectTimeoutSeconds"] = "1",
-            ["Eureka:Client:EurekaServer:RetryCount"] = "1"
+            ["Eureka:Client:EurekaServer:RetryCount"] = "0"
         };
 
         IConfiguration configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder().AddInMemoryCollection(appSettings).Build();
diff --git a/src/Management/src/Endpoint/SpringBootAdminClient/SpringBootAdminPeriodicRefresh.cs b/src/Management/src/Endpoint/SpringBootAdminClient/SpringBootAdminPeriodicRefresh.cs
index 6426993f12..9477238be3 100644
--- a/src/Management/src/Endpoint/SpringBootAdminClient/SpringBootAdminPeriodicRefresh.cs
+++ b/src/Management/src/Endpoint/SpringBootAdminClient/SpringBootAdminPeriodicRefresh.cs
@@ -44,15 +44,20 @@ private async Task TimerLoopAsync(TimeSpan interval)
 
             do
             {
-                LogStartingRefreshCycle();
-
-                try
-                {
-                    await _runner.RunAsync(isFirstTime, _timerTokenSource.Token);
-                }
-                catch (Exception exception) when (!exception.IsCancellation())
+                // A tick queued just before periodic refresh was disabled would still be delivered here.
+                // Checking the period prevents executing a stale tick when refresh has been turned off.
+                if (isFirstTime || _periodicTimer.Period != Timeout.InfiniteTimeSpan)
                 {
-                    LogRefreshCycleFailed(exception);
+                    LogStartingRefreshCycle();
+
+                    try
+                    {
+                        await _runner.RunAsync(isFirstTime, _timerTokenSource.Token);
+                    }
+                    catch (Exception exception) when (!exception.IsCancellation())
+                    {
+                        LogRefreshCycleFailed(exception);
+                    }
                 }
 
                 isFirstTime = false;
diff --git a/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/Health/HealthAggregationTest.cs b/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/Health/HealthAggregationTest.cs
index ad76b9eaad..172f589c1c 100644
--- a/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/Health/HealthAggregationTest.cs
+++ b/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/Health/HealthAggregationTest.cs
@@ -366,9 +366,9 @@ public async Task Aggregates_contributors_in_parallel()
     {
         List<IHealthContributor> contributors =
         [
-            new SlowContributor(1.Seconds()),
             new SlowContributor(2.Seconds()),
-            new SlowContributor(3.Seconds())
+            new SlowContributor(3.Seconds()),
+            new SlowContributor(4.Seconds())
         ];
 
         WebApplicationBuilder builder = TestWebApplicationBuilderFactory.Create();
@@ -408,7 +408,8 @@ public async Task Aggregates_contributors_in_parallel()
             }
             """);
 
-        stopwatch.Elapsed.Should().BeGreaterThan(500.Milliseconds()).And.BeLessThan(5.Seconds());
+        // Upper bound must be less than 2+3+4=9s if contributors ran sequentially.
+        stopwatch.Elapsed.Should().BeGreaterThan(500.Milliseconds()).And.BeLessThan(9.Seconds());
     }
 
     [Fact]
diff --git a/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/ThreadDump/EventPipeThreadDumperTest.cs b/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/ThreadDump/EventPipeThreadDumperTest.cs
index 3e46e42afd..43711fff72 100644
--- a/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/ThreadDump/EventPipeThreadDumperTest.cs
+++ b/src/Management/test/Endpoint.Test/Actuators/ThreadDump/EventPipeThreadDumperTest.cs
@@ -16,19 +16,30 @@ public sealed class EventPipeThreadDumperTest
     public async Task Can_resolve_source_location_from_pdb()
     {
         using var backgroundCancellationSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
+        using var threadStarted = new ManualResetEventSlim(false);
 
         var backgroundThread = new Thread(NestedType.BackgroundThreadCallback)
         {
             IsBackground = true
         };
 
-        backgroundThread.Start(backgroundCancellationSource.Token);
+        backgroundThread.Start((backgroundCancellationSource.Token, threadStarted));
+        threadStarted.Wait(TestContext.Current.CancellationToken);
 
         using var loggerProvider = new CapturingLoggerProvider();
         using var loggerFactory = new LoggerFactory([loggerProvider]);
         ILogger<EventPipeThreadDumper> logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger<EventPipeThreadDumper>();
 
+#if NET8_0
+        // Use a longer collection window on .NET 8 to compensate for the Sleep(0) yield.
+        var optionsMonitor = TestOptionsMonitor.Create(new ThreadDumpEndpointOptions
+        {
+            Duration = 100
+        });
+#else
         var optionsMonitor = new TestOptionsMonitor<ThreadDumpEndpointOptions>();
+#endif
+
         var dumper = new EventPipeThreadDumper(optionsMonitor, logger);
 
         IList<ThreadInfo> threads = await dumper.DumpThreadsAsync(TestContext.Current.CancellationToken);
@@ -87,11 +98,18 @@ private static class NestedType
     {
         public static void BackgroundThreadCallback(object? argument)
         {
-            var cancellationToken = (CancellationToken)argument!;
+            (CancellationToken cancellationToken, ManualResetEventSlim threadStarted) = ((CancellationToken, ManualResetEventSlim))argument!;
+
+            threadStarted.Set();
 
             while (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
             {
-                Thread.Sleep(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(50));
+                // Only actively-running threads are shown in the thread dump, so we need to make sure the CPU is in use.
+                Thread.SpinWait(250);
+#if NET8_0
+                // Yield to allow the EventPipe rundown thread to make progress on .NET 8.
+                Thread.Sleep(0);
+#endif
             }
         }
     }