diff --git a/xCAT-test/quick-servicenode-el.txt b/xCAT-test/quick-servicenode-el.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dad0dba7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xCAT-test/quick-servicenode-el.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# The fast oracle of the EL service node cell.
+#
+#   xCAT-test/quick.sh -f xCAT-test/quick-servicenode-el.txt
+#
+# One test, not seven. Every service node defect in this change set was a generated artifact that
+# was wrong before any node booted, so this renders the artifacts an EL service node needs from
+# one fixture and asserts each: the builder repository per release and vendor, the install
+# template the service profile resolves, and the NFS export line for a local directory and for a
+# re-exported mount.
+#
+# It fails for any wrong artifact, including one nobody has hit, which a file-per-fix list cannot
+# do. Measured: PASS on the branch, FAIL on the base with two named gaps rather than a death at
+# the first.
+#
+# What it does NOT cover, and why the end-to-end run stays: the boot half. Whether the compute
+# node takes its lease from the service node, whether tftp hands over, whether the installer
+# mounts what was exported. Those are not artifacts.
+
+xCAT-test/unit/service_node_artifacts_el.t
diff --git a/xCAT-test/unit/service_node_artifacts_el.t b/xCAT-test/unit/service_node_artifacts_el.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7ed7bb5b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xCAT-test/unit/service_node_artifacts_el.t
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+
+# Every service node defect found in this change set was a GENERATED ARTIFACT that was wrong, not
+# a runtime fault: the repository file that did not enable the builder repo, the install template
+# that resolved to the wrong installer, the exports line that was never written. None of them was
+# visible in the boot; all of them were decided before it.
+#
+# So this test renders the artifacts an EL service node needs, from one fixture, and asserts each
+# one. It fails for ANY wrong artifact, including a defect nobody has hit yet, which is what makes
+# it usable as the fast oracle for the EL cell: the end-to-end suite provisions three machines and
+# takes 45 to 90 minutes, and this runs in a second.
+#
+# What it cannot cover, and what keeps the end-to-end run necessary: the boot half. Whether the
+# compute node takes its lease from the service node, whether tftp hands over, whether the
+# installer mounts what was exported. Those are not artifacts and are not here.
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+use FindBin;
+use Test::More;
+
+use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../../perl-xCAT";
+use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../../xCAT-server/lib/perl";
+use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../../xCAT/postscripts";
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# The fixture: one EL service node, as the hierarchical cells define it.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+my %SN = (
+    name    => 'xcat42-sn',
+    os      => 'alma9.8',
+    osver   => 'rhels9.8',
+    vendor  => 'alma',
+    major   => 9,
+    arch    => 'x86_64',
+    profile => 'service',
+);
+my $SHARE = "$FindBin::Bin/../../xCAT-server/share/xcat/install";
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 1. The builder repository. xCAT-server pulls perl modules that BaseOS and AppStream do not
+#    carry. A service node reaches no CRB and no EPEL unless something enables them, and
+#    `dnf install xCATsn` then fails on "nothing provides perl(IO::Pty)".
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# A missing module must not stop the file. On a tree without the fix this test is the gap
+# report, and a report that dies at the first gap names one of them.
+my $have_builder_repo = eval { require ELBuilderRepo; 1 } ? 1 : 0;
+ok($have_builder_repo, 'ELBuilderRepo is present, so something can enable the builder repo')
+    or diag("ELBuilderRepo did not load: $@");
+
+SKIP: {
+    skip 'ELBuilderRepo absent', 5 unless $have_builder_repo;
+
+my @ids = ELBuilderRepo::builder_repo_ids($SN{vendor}, $SN{major}, $SN{arch});
+is_deeply(\@ids, ['crb'], 'EL9 enables crb, the name the builder repo has from EL9 onwards');
+
+is_deeply([ELBuilderRepo::builder_repo_ids('alma', 8, 'x86_64')], ['powertools', 'PowerTools'],
+    'EL8 enables powertools, which is NOT called crb, and tolerates the Rocky 8.4 spelling');
+is_deeply([ELBuilderRepo::builder_repo_ids('rhel', 9, 'ppc64le')],
+    ['codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-ppc64le-rpms'],
+    'RHEL names the CodeReady repo by release and arch');
+is_deeply([ELBuilderRepo::builder_repo_ids('ol', 9, 'x86_64')], ['ol9_codeready_builder'],
+    'Oracle names it its own way');
+is_deeply([ELBuilderRepo::builder_repo_ids('alma', undef, 'x86_64')], [],
+    'an unknown release enables nothing rather than guessing crb');
+}
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 2. The install template. An EL service node installs from a kickstart, and it must be the
+#    SERVICE profile's own, not the compute one and not a Subiquity template, which belongs to
+#    Ubuntu and which an EL node cannot boot.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+my $have_svrutils = eval { require xCAT::SvrUtils; 1 } ? 1 : 0;
+ok($have_svrutils, 'xCAT::SvrUtils loads') or diag("SvrUtils did not load: $@");
+
+SKIP: {
+    skip 'xCAT::SvrUtils absent', 10 unless $have_svrutils;
+
+my $tmpl = xCAT::SvrUtils::get_tmpl_file_name($SHARE . '/rh', $SN{profile}, $SN{osver},
+                                              $SN{arch}, $SN{osver});
+ok(defined $tmpl && length $tmpl, 'the EL service profile resolves a template at all')
+    or diag('no template for ' . join(' ', @SN{qw(profile osver arch)}));
+like($tmpl, qr{/service[^/]*\.tmpl$}, '... and it is the service profile, not compute');
+unlike($tmpl, qr{subiquity}, '... and not a Subiquity template, which no EL node can boot');
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 3. The NFS export. A service node with nfsserver=1 serves files. With site.installloc set it
+#    MOUNTS /install from the management node, and an export of an NFS mount needs an explicit
+#    fsid or the kernel refuses it -- which is how a service node ended up exporting nothing.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# A missing capability FAILS here; it does not skip. A skip reads as a pass, and the absence of
+# this sub is exactly the defect the block below exists to catch.
+my $have_export_line = xCAT::SvrUtils->can('nfs_export_line') ? 1 : 0;
+ok($have_export_line, 'SvrUtils can render an export line, without which a service node exports nothing');
+
+SKIP: {
+    skip 'nfs_export_line absent', 6 unless $have_export_line;
+
+my $local = xCAT::SvrUtils->nfs_export_line('/install');
+like($local, qr{^/install \*\(}, 'a local /install is exported to every client');
+like($local, qr{\bno_root_squash\b}, '... with no_root_squash, which the installer needs');
+unlike($local, qr{\bfsid=}, '... and without an fsid, which a local filesystem does not need');
+
+my $reexport = xCAT::SvrUtils->nfs_export_line('/install', reexport => 1);
+like($reexport, qr{\bfsid=\d+}, 're-exporting a mount carries an fsid, without which exportfs refuses');
+like($reexport, qr{\bcrossmnt\b}, '... and crossmnt, so the mount underneath is followed');
+is(xCAT::SvrUtils->nfs_export_line('/install', reexport => 1), $reexport,
+    '... and the fsid is stable, or every restart hands clients a new filesystem identity');
+}
+}
+
+done_testing();