diff --git a/.github/workflows/canary-integration-test.yml b/.github/workflows/canary-integration-test.yml
index 97ef1c7b8..09f34e6c5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/canary-integration-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/canary-integration-test.yml
@@ -1957,6 +1957,78 @@ jobs:
         with:
           debug-ci: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'debug-ci') }}
 
+  nvmeof-protocol:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    if: "!contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'skip-ci')"
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        ceph-image: ["quay.io/ceph/ceph:v20"]
+        kubernetes-version: ${{ fromJson(inputs.kubernetes-version) }}
+    steps:
+      - name: checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: consider (pre-job) debugging
+        uses: ./.github/workflows/tmate_debug
+        with:
+          use-tmate: ${{ secrets.USE_TMATE }}
+          debug-ci: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'debug-ci') }}
+
+      - name: setup cluster resources
+        uses: ./.github/workflows/integration-test-setup-cluster-resources
+        with:
+          kubernetes-version: ${{ matrix.kubernetes-version }}
+
+      - name: install nvme initiator prerequisites
+        run: tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh install_nvme_initiator_prerequisites
+
+      - name: set Ceph version in CephCluster manifest
+        run: tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh replace_ceph_image "deploy/examples/cluster-test.yaml" "${{ matrix.ceph-image }}"
+
+      - name: validate-yaml
+        run: tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh validate_yaml
+
+      - name: use local disk and create partitions for osds
+        run: |
+          tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh use_local_disk
+          tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh create_partitions_for_osds
+
+      - name: deploy cluster without ceph-csi operator
+        run: |
+          OPERATOR_MANIFEST="deploy/examples/operator.yaml"
+          sed -i 's|# ROOK_CSI_CEPH_IMAGE: "quay.io/cephcsi/cephcsi:v3.16.1"|ROOK_CSI_CEPH_IMAGE: "quay.io/nixpanic/cephcsi:nvmeof"|' "${OPERATOR_MANIFEST}"
+          sed -i 's|ROOK_USE_CSI_OPERATOR: "true"|ROOK_USE_CSI_OPERATOR: "false"|' "${OPERATOR_MANIFEST}"
+
+          tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh deploy_manifest_with_local_build "${OPERATOR_MANIFEST}"
+
+          export BLOCK="$(tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh find_extra_block_dev)"
+          yq w -i -d0 deploy/examples/cluster-test.yaml spec.storage.deviceFilter "${BLOCK}"
+          kubectl create -f deploy/examples/cluster-test.yaml
+          tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh deploy_toolbox
+
+      - name: wait for prepare pod
+        run: tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh wait_for_prepare_pod 2
+
+      - name: wait for ceph to be ready
+        env:
+          CSI_POD_MIN_COUNT: "6"
+        run: tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh wait_for_ceph_to_be_ready osd 2
+
+      - name: test ceph-csi-nvmeof plugin restart and data persistence
+        run: tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh test_csi_nvmeof_workload
+
+      - name: collect common logs
+        if: always()
+        uses: ./.github/workflows/collect-logs
+        with:
+          name: ${{ github.job }}-${{ matrix.ceph-image }}
+      - name: consider (post-job) debugging
+        uses: ./.github/workflows/upterm_debug
+        with:
+          debug-ci: ${{ contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'debug-ci') }}
+
   encryption-pvc-kms-ibm-kp:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     if: "!contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'skip-ci')"
diff --git a/deploy/examples/csi/nvmeof/storageclass.yaml b/deploy/examples/csi/nvmeof/storageclass.yaml
index 328c435c4..2f6691ffd 100644
--- a/deploy/examples/csi/nvmeof/storageclass.yaml
+++ b/deploy/examples/csi/nvmeof/storageclass.yaml
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ parameters:
   listeners: |
     [
       {
-        "address": "10.129.2.36",
-        "port": 4420,
         "hostname": "rook-ceph-nvmeof-nvmeof-a"
       }
     ]
diff --git a/tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh b/tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh
index 14ff11e0c..da5ae8a7e 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/github-action-helper.sh
@@ -83,6 +83,18 @@ function install_deps() {
   sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yq
 }
 
+function install_nvme_initiator_prerequisites() {
+  sudo apt-get update
+  sudo apt-get install -y nvme-cli
+  sudo apt-get install -y "linux-modules-extra-$(uname -r)" || sudo apt-get install -y linux-modules-extra-azure || true
+  sudo modprobe nvme_fabrics || true
+  sudo modprobe nvme_tcp || true
+  if [[ ! -d /sys/module/nvme_tcp ]]; then
+    echo "nvme_tcp kernel module is unavailable on this runner kernel: $(uname -r)"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+}
+
 function print_k8s_cluster_status() {
   kubectl cluster-info
   kubectl get pods -n kube-system
@@ -740,6 +752,99 @@ function test_csi_nfs_workload {
   kubectl exec -t pod/csinfs-demo-pod -- ls -alh /var/lib/www/html/
 }
 
+function test_csi_nvmeof_workload {
+  cd "${REPO_DIR}/deploy/examples/csi/nvmeof"
+
+  local cephcsi_image="${1:-quay.io/nixpanic/cephcsi:nvmeof}"
+  local gateway_svc="rook-ceph-nvmeof-nvmeof-a"
+  local gateway_listener_hostname="rook-ceph-nvmeof-nvmeof-a"
+  local service_ip
+  local old_gateway_pod
+
+  sed -i 's/failureDomain: .*/failureDomain: osd/' nvmeof-pool.yaml
+  sed -i 's/size: .*/size: 1/' nvmeof-pool.yaml
+  kubectl create -f nvmeof-pool.yaml
+  wait_for cephblockpool nvmeof rook-ceph 600
+
+  kubectl create -f "${REPO_DIR}/deploy/examples/nvmeof-test.yaml"
+  wait_for cephnvmeofgateway nvmeof rook-ceph 600
+  timeout 300 bash <<EOF
+until kubectl -n rook-ceph get pod --no-headers | awk '/rook-ceph-nvmeof-nvmeof-a-/ {print \$3}' | grep -q "^Running$"; do
+  echo "waiting for NVMe-oF gateway pod to be running"
+  sleep 5
+done
+EOF
+
+  service_ip="$(kubectl -n rook-ceph get svc "${gateway_svc}" -o jsonpath='{.spec.clusterIP}')"
+  if [[ -z "${service_ip}" ]]; then
+    echo "failed to discover gateway service IP for ${gateway_svc}"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  sed -i "s|nvmeofGatewayAddress: \".*\"|nvmeofGatewayAddress: \"${service_ip}\"|g" storageclass.yaml
+  # ceph-csi PR 6061 expects listeners to include hostname only.
+  sed -i '/"address":/d' storageclass.yaml
+  sed -i '/"port":/d' storageclass.yaml
+  sed -i "s|\"hostname\": \".*\"|\"hostname\": \"${gateway_listener_hostname}\"|g" storageclass.yaml
+  sed -i "s|image: quay.io/cephcsi/cephcsi:.*|image: ${cephcsi_image}|g" provisioner.yaml
+  sed -i "s|image: quay.io/cephcsi/cephcsi:.*|image: ${cephcsi_image}|g" node-plugin.yaml
+
+  kubectl create -f provisioner.yaml
+  kubectl -n rook-ceph wait --for=condition=available deployment/csi-nvmeofplugin-provisioner --timeout=300s
+
+  kubectl create -f storageclass.yaml
+  kubectl create -f pvc.yaml
+  if ! kubectl wait pvc/nvmeof-external-volume --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}'=Bound --timeout=300s; then
+    echo "PVC nvmeof-external-volume did not reach Bound; collecting diagnostics..."
+    kubectl describe pvc nvmeof-external-volume || true
+    kubectl get events -n default --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp | tail -n 50 || true
+    kubectl -n rook-ceph logs deploy/csi-nvmeofplugin-provisioner -c csi-provisioner --tail=200 || true
+    kubectl -n rook-ceph logs deploy/csi-nvmeofplugin-provisioner -c csi-nvmeofplugin --tail=200 || true
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  # Sanity check module availability; prerequisites are installed earlier in CI setup.
+  lsmod | grep -E 'nvme(_|-)(tcp|fabrics)' || true
+  if [[ ! -d /sys/module/nvme_tcp ]]; then
+    echo "nvme_tcp kernel module is required but unavailable on kernel $(uname -r)"
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  kubectl create -f node-plugin.yaml
+  if ! kubectl -n rook-ceph rollout status daemonset/nvmeof.csi.ceph.com-nodeplugin --timeout=300s; then
+    kubectl -n rook-ceph get pods -l app=nvmeof.csi.ceph.com-nodeplugin -o wide || true
+    kubectl -n rook-ceph describe daemonset nvmeof.csi.ceph.com-nodeplugin || true
+    echo "nvmeof nodeplugin daemonset failed to become ready"
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  kubectl create -f pod.yaml
+  kubectl wait pod/nvmeof-test-pod --for=condition=Ready --timeout=300s
+
+  kubectl -n default exec pod/nvmeof-test-pod -- sh -c "echo 'abcd' > /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt && cat /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt"
+  kubectl -n default exec pod/nvmeof-test-pod -- sh -c "grep -qx 'abcd' /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt"
+
+  old_gateway_pod="$(kubectl -n rook-ceph get pod --no-headers | awk '/rook-ceph-nvmeof-nvmeof-a-/ {print $1; exit}')"
+  kubectl -n rook-ceph delete pod "${old_gateway_pod}"
+  timeout 300 bash <<EOF
+until new_gateway_pod=\$(kubectl -n rook-ceph get pod --no-headers | awk '/rook-ceph-nvmeof-nvmeof-a-/ && \$3 == "Running" {print \$1; exit}') && [[ -n "\${new_gateway_pod}" && "\${new_gateway_pod}" != "${old_gateway_pod}" ]]; do
+  echo "waiting for NVMe-oF gateway pod restart"
+  sleep 5
+done
+EOF
+
+  kubectl -n default exec pod/nvmeof-test-pod -- sh -c "grep -qx 'abcd' /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt"
+  kubectl -n default exec pod/nvmeof-test-pod -- sh -c "echo 'abcd efg' > /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt && grep -qx 'abcd efg' /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt"
+
+  kubectl delete pod nvmeof-test-pod --grace-period=0 --force
+  kubectl wait --for=delete pod/nvmeof-test-pod --timeout=180s
+
+  kubectl create -f pod.yaml
+  kubectl wait pod/nvmeof-test-pod --for=condition=Ready --timeout=300s
+  kubectl -n default exec pod/nvmeof-test-pod -- sh -c "grep -qx 'abcd efg' /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt"
+  kubectl -n default exec pod/nvmeof-test-pod -- sh -c "echo 'abcd efg hij' > /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt && grep -qx 'abcd efg hij' /mnt/nvmeof/test.txt"
+}
+
 function toolbox() {
   kubectl -n rook-ceph exec -it "$(kubectl -n rook-ceph get pod -l "app=rook-ceph-tools" -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')" -- "$@"
 }
diff --git a/tests/scripts/validate_cluster.sh b/tests/scripts/validate_cluster.sh
index eb6c3cd24..b61eefcee 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/validate_cluster.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/validate_cluster.sh
@@ -102,9 +102,10 @@ function test_demo_pool {
 }
 
 function test_csi {
-  timeout 360 bash -x <<-'EOF'
-    until [[ "$(kubectl -n rook-ceph get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Running|grep -c csi.)" -ge 7 ]]; do
-      echo "waiting for csi pods to be ready"
+  csi_pod_min_count="${CSI_POD_MIN_COUNT:-7}"
+  timeout 360 bash -x <<EOF
+    until [[ "\$(kubectl -n rook-ceph get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Running | grep -c csi.)" -ge "${csi_pod_min_count}" ]]; do
+      echo "waiting for csi pods to be ready (need ${csi_pod_min_count})"
       kubectl -n rook-ceph get pods | grep csi
       sleep 5
     done