diff --git a/.github/actions/e2e/setup-cluster/action.yaml b/.github/actions/e2e/setup-cluster/action.yaml
index c829662294f0..a3a6aac80809 100644
--- a/.github/actions/e2e/setup-cluster/action.yaml
+++ b/.github/actions/e2e/setup-cluster/action.yaml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ inputs:
     default: "1.29"
   eksctl_version:
     description: "Version of eksctl to install"
-    default: v0.169.0
+    default: v0.175.0
   ip_family:
     description: "IP Family of the cluster. Valid values are IPv4 or IPv6"
     default: "IPv4"
@@ -152,11 +152,9 @@ runs:
           minSize: 2
           maxSize: 2
           iam:
+            withAddonPolicies:
+              cloudWatch: true
             instanceRolePermissionsBoundary: "arn:aws:iam::$ACCOUNT_ID:policy/GithubActionsPermissionsBoundary"
-          taints:
-          - key: CriticalAddonsOnly
-            value: "true"
-            effect: NoSchedule
       cloudWatch:
         clusterLogging:
           enableTypes: ["*"]
@@ -175,6 +173,8 @@ runs:
         $KARPENTER_IAM
         withOIDC: true
       addons:
+      - name: amazon-cloudwatch-observability
+        permissionsBoundary: "arn:aws:iam::$ACCOUNT_ID:policy/GithubActionsPermissionsBoundary"
       - name: vpc-cni
         permissionsBoundary: "arn:aws:iam::$ACCOUNT_ID:policy/GithubActionsPermissionsBoundary"
       - name: coredns
@@ -211,6 +211,11 @@ runs:
       else
         eksctl ${cmd} cluster -f clusterconfig.yaml
       fi
+
+      # Adding taints after all necessary pods have scheduled to the manged node group nodes
+      # amazon-cloudwatch-observability pods do no not tolerate CriticalAddonsOnly=true:NoSchedule and 
+      # EKS addons does not allow to add tolerations to the addon pods as part of the advanced configuration 
+      kubectl taint nodes CriticalAddonsOnly=true:NoSchedule --all
   - name: tag oidc provider of the cluster
     if: always()
     shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e-upgrade.yaml b/.github/workflows/e2e-upgrade.yaml
index 0ad5a6e3f3e0..195bc4362694 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e-upgrade.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e-upgrade.yaml
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ jobs:
           region: ${{ inputs.region }}
           cluster_name: ${{ steps.generate-cluster-name.outputs.CLUSTER_NAME }}
           k8s_version: ${{ inputs.k8s_version }}
-          eksctl_version: v0.169.0
+          eksctl_version: v0.175.0
           ip_family: IPv4 # Set the value to IPv6 if IPv6 suite, else IPv4
           git_ref: ${{ inputs.from_git_ref }}
           ecr_account_id: ${{ vars.SNAPSHOT_ACCOUNT_ID }}
@@ -135,6 +135,15 @@ jobs:
           url: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}
           suite: Upgrade
           git_ref: ${{ inputs.to_git_ref }}
+      - name: add log retention policy
+        if: ${{ inputs.workflow_trigger != 'private_cluster' }}
+        env:
+          CLUSTER_NAME: ${{ inputs.cluster_name }}
+        run: |
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/application --retention-in-days 30
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/dataplane --retention-in-days 30
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/host --retention-in-days 30
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/performance --retention-in-days 30
       - name: dump logs on failure
         uses: ./.github/actions/e2e/dump-logs
         if: failure() || cancelled()
diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e.yaml b/.github/workflows/e2e.yaml
index dc120754be4a..920a789132c3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e.yaml
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ jobs:
           region: ${{ inputs.region }}
           cluster_name: ${{ steps.generate-cluster-name.outputs.CLUSTER_NAME }}
           k8s_version: ${{ inputs.k8s_version }}
-          eksctl_version: v0.169.0
+          eksctl_version: v0.175.0
           ip_family: ${{ contains(inputs.suite, 'IPv6') && 'IPv6' || 'IPv4' }} # Set the value to IPv6 if IPv6 suite, else IPv4
           private_cluster: ${{ inputs.workflow_trigger == 'private_cluster' }}
           git_ref: ${{ inputs.git_ref }}
@@ -187,6 +187,15 @@ jobs:
           suite: ${{ inputs.suite }}
           git_ref: ${{ inputs.git_ref }}
           workflow_trigger: ${{ inputs.workflow_trigger }}
+      - name: add log retention policy
+        if: ${{ inputs.workflow_trigger != 'private_cluster' }}
+        env:
+          CLUSTER_NAME: ${{ inputs.cluster_name }}
+        run: |
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/application --retention-in-days 30
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/dataplane --retention-in-days 30
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/host --retention-in-days 30
+          aws logs put-retention-policy --log-group-name /aws/containerinsights/"$CLUSTER_NAME"/performance --retention-in-days 30
       - name: dump logs on failure
         uses: ./.github/actions/e2e/dump-logs
         if: (failure() || cancelled()) && inputs.workflow_trigger != 'private_cluster'