diff --git a/test/distrib/node/run_distrib_test.sh b/test/distrib/node/run_distrib_test.sh
index dbbcad25e4261a13eae13e8033b9c2bdc4375570..90637cc01d0f402508cffd4098e10ae236a08756 100755
--- a/test/distrib/node/run_distrib_test.sh
+++ b/test/distrib/node/run_distrib_test.sh
@@ -36,17 +36,17 @@ nvm install $1
 
 npm install -g node-static
 
-STATIC_SERVER=localhost
+STATIC_SERVER=127.0.0.1
 STATIC_PORT=8080
 
 # Serves the input_artifacts directory statically at localhost:8080
-static "$EXTERNAL_GIT_ROOT/input_artifacts" -a STATIC_SERVER -p STATIC_PORT &
+static "$EXTERNAL_GIT_ROOT/input_artifacts" -a $STATIC_SERVER -p $STATIC_PORT &
 STATIC_PID=$!
 
 STATIC_URL="http://$STATIC_SERVER:$STATIC_PORT/"
 
 npm install --unsafe-perm $STATIC_URL/grpc.tgz --grpc_node_binary_host_mirror=$STATIC_URL
 
-kill $STATIC_PID
+kill -9 $STATIC_PID
 
 ./distrib_test.js
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/distribtest_targets.py b/tools/run_tests/distribtest_targets.py
index 7fd0800fa0fa2f60f1f42a96145c4a09c517381e..e9a80d2cf40529b8064f0c44f5057ebb8e8447a8 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/distribtest_targets.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/distribtest_targets.py
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ class NodeDistribTest(object):
                                  'tools/dockerfile/distribtest/node_%s_%s' % (
                                      self.docker_suffix,
                                      self.arch),
-                                 'test/distrib/node/run_distrib_test.sh %s' % (
+                                 # bash -l needed to make nvm available
+                                 'bash -l test/distrib/node/run_distrib_test.sh %s' % (
                                      self.node_version))
     def __str__(self):
       return self.name