diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/config/PersistanceConfig.java b/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/config/PersistanceConfig.java
index 1b9cf5ad867d62c64b4a4711728307d9f27d3fc5..8955777066a7a0fb8bffdb00931c513edb952b0c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/config/PersistanceConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/config/PersistanceConfig.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ public class PersistanceConfig {
 	@Value("${couchdb.name}") private String couchDbName;
 	@Value("${couchdb.host}") private String couchDbHost;
 	@Value("${couchdb.port}") private int couchDbPort;
+	@Value("${couchdb.username:}") private String couchDbUsername;
+	@Value("${couchdb.password:}") private String couchDbPassword;
 
 	@Bean
 	public CouchDbConnector couchDbConnector() throws Exception {
@@ -33,6 +35,10 @@ public class PersistanceConfig {
 		final HttpClientFactoryBean factory = new HttpClientFactoryBean();
 		factory.setHost(couchDbHost);
 		factory.setPort(couchDbPort);
+		if (!couchDbUsername.isEmpty()) {
+			factory.setUsername(couchDbUsername);
+			factory.setPassword(couchDbPassword);
+		}
 
 		return factory;
 	}
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/persistance/couchdb/InitializingCouchDbConnector.java b/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/persistance/couchdb/InitializingCouchDbConnector.java
index b6675a48d380aa840ab07440b3d39d65fb4c6511..d968a7ae030dd6e207d29287efeac3a2bf59f929 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/persistance/couchdb/InitializingCouchDbConnector.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/persistance/couchdb/InitializingCouchDbConnector.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package de.thm.arsnova.persistance.couchdb;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import org.ektorp.CouchDbInstance;
+import org.ektorp.DocumentNotFoundException;
 import org.ektorp.impl.ObjectMapperFactory;
 import org.ektorp.impl.StdCouchDbConnector;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -62,12 +63,12 @@ public class InitializingCouchDbConnector extends StdCouchDbConnector implements
 					logger.warn("Failed to serialize design doc.", e);
 				}
 			}
-			String rev = getCurrentRevision((String) doc.get("_id"));
-			if (rev == null) {
-				create(doc);
-			} else {
+			try {
+				String rev = getCurrentRevision((String) doc.get("_id"));
 				doc.put("_rev", rev);
 				update(doc);
+			} catch (DocumentNotFoundException e) {
+				create(doc);
 			}
 		});
 	}