diff --git a/gpu-validation/defaults/main.yaml b/gpu-validation/defaults/main.yaml
index 529ad5e..325acc8 100644
--- a/gpu-validation/defaults/main.yaml
+++ b/gpu-validation/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ gpu_validation_extra_specs:
 
 # [string] Hugepage size for VM memory backing
 # When set, adds hw:mem_page_size to the flavor extra_specs
-gpu_validation_mem_page_size:
+gpu_validation_mem_page_size: ''
 
 # [string] NVIDIA management library version
 gpu_validation_libnvidia_ml_version: libnvidia-ml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ gpu_validation_private_key_file: ~/test_keypair.key
 
 # [string] SSH ProxyCommand for accessing VMs through a bastion/hypervisor
 # Example: '-o ProxyCommand="ssh -W %h:%p -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i /path/to/key user@bastion-host"'
-gpu_validation_ssh_proxy_command:
+gpu_validation_ssh_proxy_command: ''
 # [string] HTTP proxy for outbound connections (dnf, container pulls, model downloads)
 # Do not embed credentials in the URL — proxy values are written to systemd unit files
 # Example: 'http://proxy.example.com:3128'
diff --git a/gpu-validation/tasks/proxy.yaml b/gpu-validation/tasks/proxy.yaml
index 19cf0cf..c5b18d8 100644
--- a/gpu-validation/tasks/proxy.yaml
+++ b/gpu-validation/tasks/proxy.yaml
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@
     create: true
     mode: "0644"
     block: |
-      HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy }}
+      HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy | default(gpu_validation_https_proxy, true) }}
       HTTPS_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_https_proxy | default(gpu_validation_http_proxy, true) }}
-      http_proxy={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy }}
+      http_proxy={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy | default(gpu_validation_https_proxy, true) }}
       https_proxy={{ gpu_validation_https_proxy | default(gpu_validation_http_proxy, true) }}
       NO_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_no_proxy }}
       no_proxy={{ gpu_validation_no_proxy }}
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
   ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
     path: /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
     regexp: '^proxy='
-    line: "proxy={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy }}"
+    line: "proxy={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy | default(gpu_validation_https_proxy, true) }}"
 
 - name: Configure container engine proxy
   ansible.builtin.file:
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
     mode: "0644"
     content: |
       [Service]
-      Environment="HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy }}"
+      Environment="HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy | default(gpu_validation_https_proxy, true) }}"
       Environment="HTTPS_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_https_proxy | default(gpu_validation_http_proxy, true) }}"
       Environment="NO_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_no_proxy }}"
   register: _proxy_dropin
diff --git a/gpu-validation/tasks/setup.yaml b/gpu-validation/tasks/setup.yaml
index c9b0edc..db5a3e5 100644
--- a/gpu-validation/tasks/setup.yaml
+++ b/gpu-validation/tasks/setup.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 - name: Configure proxy settings
   ansible.builtin.include_tasks: proxy.yaml
-  when: gpu_validation_http_proxy | length > 0
+  when: gpu_validation_http_proxy or gpu_validation_https_proxy
 
 - name: Install needed driver dependency packages for RHEL
   when:
diff --git a/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_deploy.yaml b/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_deploy.yaml
index da136f8..9697bd0 100644
--- a/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_deploy.yaml
+++ b/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_deploy.yaml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 - name: Poll for SSH to be available on {{ gpu_validation_vm_name }}
   ansible.builtin.command: |
     ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null \
-    {{ gpu_validation_ssh_proxy_command | default('') }} \
+    {{ gpu_validation_ssh_proxy_command }} \
     -i {{ gpu_validation_private_key_file }} cloud-user@{{ gpu_validation_floating_ip }}
   retries: 60  # 60 * 10 = 10 mins
   delay: 10
diff --git a/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_image.yaml b/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_image.yaml
index 20a807c..2ff195b 100644
--- a/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_image.yaml
+++ b/gpu-validation/tasks/vm_image.yaml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
     gpu_validation_extra_specs: "{{ gpu_validation_extra_specs | combine({'hw:mem_page_size': gpu_validation_mem_page_size}) }}"
   when:
     - gpu_validation_mode != "mig"
-    - gpu_validation_mem_page_size | default('') | length > 0
+    - gpu_validation_mem_page_size
 
 - name: Reset extra_specs based GPU mode
   ansible.builtin.set_fact:
diff --git a/gpu-validation/templates/vllm-serve.service.j2 b/gpu-validation/templates/vllm-serve.service.j2
index a57a349..2b57924 100644
--- a/gpu-validation/templates/vllm-serve.service.j2
+++ b/gpu-validation/templates/vllm-serve.service.j2
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ Description=vllm model serve service
 WantedBy=multi-user.target default.target
 
 [Service]
-{% if gpu_validation_http_proxy | length > 0 %}
-Environment="HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy }}"
+{% if gpu_validation_http_proxy or gpu_validation_https_proxy %}
+Environment="HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy | default(gpu_validation_https_proxy, true) }}"
 Environment="HTTPS_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_https_proxy | default(gpu_validation_http_proxy, true) }}"
 Environment="NO_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_no_proxy | default('localhost,127.0.0.1') }}"
 {% endif %}
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ ExecStart=podman run \
 {% if gpu_validation_model_download_hf_token %}
     --env "HUGGING_FACE_HUB_TOKEN={{ gpu_validation_model_download_hf_token | quote }}" \
 {% endif %}
-{% if gpu_validation_http_proxy | length > 0 %}
-    --env "HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy }}" \
+{% if gpu_validation_http_proxy or gpu_validation_https_proxy %}
+    --env "HTTP_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_http_proxy | default(gpu_validation_https_proxy, true) }}" \
     --env "HTTPS_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_https_proxy | default(gpu_validation_http_proxy, true) }}" \
     --env "NO_PROXY={{ gpu_validation_no_proxy | default('localhost,127.0.0.1') }}" \
 {% endif %}