diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/netbird.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/netbird.nix
index 84383f7e28ca..c41183b9d307 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/netbird.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/netbird.nix
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ let
     escapeShellArgs
     filterAttrs
     getExe
+    listToAttrs
     literalExpression
     maintainers
     makeBinPath
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ let
     optional
     optionalAttrs
     optionalString
+    optionals
     toShellVars
     versionAtLeast
     versionOlder
@@ -471,6 +473,16 @@ in
         toClientList (client: optional client.openFirewall client.port)
       );
 
+      # Ports opened on a specific
+      networking.firewall.interfaces = listToAttrs (
+        toClientList (client: {
+          name = client.interface;
+          value.allowedUDPPorts = optionals client.openFirewall [
+            5353 # required for the DNS forwarding/routing to work
+          ];
+        })
+      );
+
       systemd.network.networks = mkIf config.networking.useNetworkd (
         toClientAttrs (
           client:
@@ -504,7 +516,14 @@ in
           after = [ "network.target" ];
           wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
 
-          path = optional (!config.services.resolved.enable) pkgs.openresolv;
+          path =
+            optionals (!config.services.resolved.enable) [ pkgs.openresolv ]
+            # useful for `netbird debug` system info gathering
+            ++ optionals config.networking.nftables.enable [ pkgs.nftables ]
+            ++ optionals (!config.networking.nftables.enable) [
+              pkgs.iptables
+              pkgs.ipset
+            ];
 
           serviceConfig = {
             ExecStart = "${getExe client.wrapper} service run";
diff --git a/nixos/tests/netbird.nix b/nixos/tests/netbird.nix
index 581c6eeeab2e..873f5405935e 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/netbird.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/netbird.nix
@@ -18,19 +18,18 @@
   # TODO: confirm the whole solution is working end-to-end when netbird server is implemented
   testScript = ''
     start_all()
-    def did_start(node, name):
+    def did_start(node, name, interval=0.5, timeout=10):
       node.wait_for_unit(f"{name}.service")
       node.wait_for_file(f"/var/run/{name}/sock")
-      output = node.succeed(f"{name} status")
+      # `netbird status` returns a full "Disconnected" status during initialization
+      # only after a while passes it starts returning "NeedsLogin" help message
 
-      # not sure why, but it can print either of:
-      #  - Daemon status: NeedsLogin
-      #  - Management: Disconnected
-      expected = [
-        "Disconnected",
-        "NeedsLogin",
-      ]
-      assert any(msg in output for msg in expected)
+      start = time.time()
+      output = node.succeed(f"{name} status")
+      while "Disconnected" in output and (time.time() - start) < timeout:
+        time.sleep(interval)
+        output = node.succeed(f"{name} status")
+      assert "NeedsLogin" in output
 
     did_start(clients, "netbird")
     did_start(clients, "netbird-custom")