diff --git a/.github/helper/start-db.sh b/.github/helper/start-db.sh
index 6998adcfd91..e99d44babe1 100755
--- a/.github/helper/start-db.sh
+++ b/.github/helper/start-db.sh
@@ -56,10 +56,14 @@ mariadbd --no-defaults --datadir="$DATADIR" --socket="$SOCK" --pid-file="$DATADI
     --innodb-flush-log-at-trx-commit=0 --sync-binlog=0 --skip-log-bin \
     > "$HOME/mariadb.log" 2>&1 &
 
+up=0
 for _ in $(seq 1 60); do
-    mariadb-admin --socket="$SOCK" ping --silent 2>/dev/null && break
+    if mariadb-admin --socket="$SOCK" ping --silent 2>/dev/null; then up=1; break; fi
     sleep 1
 done
+# Fail loudly instead of letting the loop fall through (exit 0 of the last `sleep`) into SQL that
+# would error with a vague socket-connection failure.
+[ "$up" = "1" ] || { echo "mariadbd did not come up on $SOCK"; cat "$HOME/mariadb.log" 2>/dev/null; exit 1; }
 
 if [ "$fresh" = "1" ]; then
     # A fresh datadir has only a password-less root@localhost. Give it the password install.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml b/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml
index 3f6505b1894..8cd50f235f0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/server-tests-postgres.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ on:
     # 03:00 AM IST daily (21:30 UTC the previous day)
     - cron: "30 21 * * *"
   pull_request:
+    # 'labeled' so adding the 'postgres' label to an already-open PR re-triggers the run.
+    types: [opened, reopened, synchronize, labeled]
     paths-ignore:
       - '**.js'
       - '**.md'
@@ -182,6 +184,6 @@ jobs:
           ( cd ~/frappe-bench/sites && nohup python3 -m http.server 8000 --bind 127.0.0.1 > ~/frappe-bench/web.log 2>&1 & )
           for _ in $(seq 1 15); do (exec 3<>/dev/tcp/127.0.0.1/8000) 2>/dev/null && { exec 3>&- 3<&-; break; }; sleep 1; done
           bench --site test_site run-parallel-tests --lightmode --app erpnext \
-            --total-builds 4 --build-number ${{ matrix.container }}
+            --total-builds ${{ strategy.job-total }} --build-number ${{ matrix.container }}
         env:
           TYPE: server