diff --git a/continuousintegration/docker/ctafrontend/cc7/opt/run/bin/start_quarkdb.sh b/continuousintegration/docker/ctafrontend/cc7/opt/run/bin/start_quarkdb.sh
index 3cb8b21d9f3b7b064e35d993ab4e84b384f711de..2c9d873a04e943f20f15e1349bf6f15d66999fef 100755
--- a/continuousintegration/docker/ctafrontend/cc7/opt/run/bin/start_quarkdb.sh
+++ b/continuousintegration/docker/ctafrontend/cc7/opt/run/bin/start_quarkdb.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,19 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# I need 2 level of directories for quarkdb:
+# /var/lib/<possible PV mount point>/<directory owned by xrootd>
+# this way I can either use:
+# - a PV that mounts a dedicated SSD for long tests
+# - a directory in the container for shorter ones
+
 QUARKDB_CONFIG=/etc/config/eos/xrootd-quarkdb.cfg
 
-QUARKDB_DIRECTORY=$(cat ${QUARKDB_CONFIG} | grep redis.database | sed -e 's/.*redis.database\ \+//')
+QUARKDB_DIRECTORY=$(cat ${QUARKDB_CONFIG} | grep redis.database | sed -e 's/.*redis.database\ \+//;s%/\ *$%%')
+
+QUARKDB_SUBDIRECTORY=$(echo ${QUARKDB_DIRECTORY} | sed -e 's%/[^/]\+/*\ *$%%')
+
+# make sure the first level of directory exists if there is no mounted PV
+mkdir -p ${QUARKDB_SUBDIRECTORY}
 
 yum-config-manager --enable eos-quarkdb
 
diff --git a/continuousintegration/orchestration/eos-config-quarkdb.yaml b/continuousintegration/orchestration/eos-config-quarkdb.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d393a55a8f8fde991d5777959ad77f40a321b839
--- /dev/null
+++ b/continuousintegration/orchestration/eos-config-quarkdb.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: eos-config
+  labels:
+    config: eos
+data:
+  xrd.cf.mgm: |
+    mgmofs.nslib /usr/lib64/libEosNsQuarkdb.so
+    mgmofs.qdbcluster localhost:7777
+  xrootd-quarkdb.cfg: |
+    xrd.port 7777
+    xrd.protocol redis:7777 /usr/lib64/libXrdQuarkDB.so
+    redis.mode standalone
+    redis.database /var/lib/quarkdb/quarkdb1