diff --git a/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml
index f75bf268f..f0a523e1a 100644
--- a/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ build container fb:
     - docker push $tag
     - echo Created docker featurebase image with tag "$tag"
 
-# deploy EC2 instance and save instance ID to a text file
+# deploy EC2 instance, configure and run featurebase 
 deploy node for linux amd64:
   stage: integration
   image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cloud-deploy/aws-base:latest
diff --git a/qa/scripts/deployNode.sh b/qa/scripts/deployNode.sh
index 2074d5400..b928a31e7 100755
--- a/qa/scripts/deployNode.sh
+++ b/qa/scripts/deployNode.sh
@@ -6,31 +6,31 @@ function deploy_node() {
     # get AMI, security group and subnet ID 
     AMI=$(aws ssm get-parameters --names /aws/service/ami-amazon-linux-latest/amzn2-ami-hvm-x86_64-ebs --query 'Parameters[0].[Value]' --output text --profile $PROFILE)
     if [[ $? > 0 ]]; then 
-        echo "aws session manager find ami failed"
+        echo "aws session manager failed to find AMI"
         exit 1
     fi
 
     SECURITY_GROUP=$(aws ec2 describe-security-groups --filters Name=vpc-id,Values=vpc-03a4ba3d5b7c8f978 Name=group-name,Values=default --query 'SecurityGroups[*].[GroupId]' --output text --profile $PROFILE)
     if [[ $? > 0 ]]; then 
-        echo "aws session manager find security group failed"
+        echo "aws session manager failed to find security group"
         exit 1
     fi
     
     SUBNET_ID=$(aws ec2 describe-subnets --filters 'Name=vpc-id,Values=vpc-03a4ba3d5b7c8f978' 'Name=availability-zone,Values=us-east-2a' --query 'Subnets[0].SubnetId' --output text --profile $PROFILE)
     if [[ $? > 0 ]]; then 
-        echo "aws session manager find subnet ID failed"
+        echo "aws session manager failed to find subnet ID"
         exit 1
     fi
 
     # launch EC2 instance and get instance ID
     aws ec2 run-instances --image-id $AMI --instance-type $INSTANCE --security-group-ids $SECURITY_GROUP --subnet-id $SUBNET_ID --key-name gitlab-featurebase-dev --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=linux-amd64-node}]' --profile $PROFILE --user-data file://./qa/scripts/cloud-init.sh --iam-instance-profile Name=featurebase-dev-ssm > config.json
     if [[ $? > 0 ]]; then 
-        echo "Launching EC2 instance failed"
+        echo "aws run-instances failed to launch a new EC2 instance"
         exit 1
     fi
 
     INSTANCE_ID=$(jq '.Instances | .[0] |.InstanceId' config.json | tr -d '"') 
-    echo "Launched EC2 instance with Instance ID: " $INSTANCE_ID
+    echo "aws run-instances succeeded in launching a new EC2 instance with instance ID: " $INSTANCE_ID
 }
 
 function initialize_featurebase() {
@@ -39,12 +39,12 @@ function initialize_featurebase() {
     do 
         IP=$(aws ec2 describe-instances --instance-ids $INSTANCE_ID --filters 'Name=instance-state-name, Values=running' --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].PublicIpAddress' --output text --profile $PROFILE)
         if [ -n "$IP" ]; then
-            echo "Public IP for EC2 instance: " $IP 
+            echo "Public IP for EC2 instance found: " $IP 
             break
         fi
 
         if [[ $? > 0 ]]; then 
-            echo "aws cli describe-instances command failed"
+            echo "aws cli describe-instances command failed to find public IP"
             terminate_node
             exit 1
         fi
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ function initialize_featurebase() {
     # execute script to configure featurebase on the EC2 node 
     aws ssm send-command --document-name "AWS-RunShellScript" --instance-ids $INSTANCE_ID --cli-input-json file://./qa/scripts/configureFeatureBase.json --profile $PROFILE --region $REGION
     if [[ $? > 0 ]]; then 
-        echo "aws cli session manager command failed"
+        echo "aws cli session manager send-command failed"
         terminate_node
         exit 1
     fi