diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 7e5de862e338272c5a30d9e905b7ca501a439872..3ce3175b2ea45ccc19463dc5d537282b93a57c37 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ services:
     command: /opt/FOD/pythonenv ./manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
     container_name: fod
     depends_on:
-      celery:
-        condition: service_healthy
+            - celery
 
     privileged: true
     expose:
@@ -28,10 +27,10 @@ services:
         context: .
         dockerfile: docker-compose/Dockerfile_FOD
     image: flowspydjango
+    command: sh -c '/opt/setup_environment.sh && while ! mysqladmin -h db ping; do echo "DB not yet ready, waiting 1 sec"; sleep 1; done && echo "database is ready" && /opt/FOD/pythonenv ./manage.py migrate && exec supervisord -c docker-compose/fod_celery_supervisord.conf'
     container_name: celeryfod
     depends_on:
-      db:
-        condition: service_healthy
+            - db
     privileged: true
     env_file:
       - ./docker-compose/.env_fod
@@ -46,7 +45,7 @@ services:
         interval: 30s
         timeout: 20s
         retries: 3
-        start_period: 30s
+        #start_period: 30s
 
   redis:
     image: redis:latest
diff --git a/docker-compose/.env_fod b/docker-compose/.env_fod
index 1308288fad62757c03c3a581e5a4e49e60ab0906..0b50b88ecc3b4405828e3f595e9384fc12083b67 100644
--- a/docker-compose/.env_fod
+++ b/docker-compose/.env_fod
@@ -16,6 +16,6 @@ FOD_REDIS_HOST=redis
 FOD_DB_ENG=mysql
 FOD_DB_NAME=fod
 FOD_DB_USER=root
-FOD_DB_PASS=''
+FOD_DB_PASS=
 FOD_DB_HOST=db
-FOD_DB_PORT=''
+FOD_DB_PORT=
diff --git a/docker-compose/Dockerfile_FOD b/docker-compose/Dockerfile_FOD
index 304cedda21d530f655f6707620469b672b0bfa50..2008bcf1b70e7cf21c418d665c85db069ddf5be3 100644
--- a/docker-compose/Dockerfile_FOD
+++ b/docker-compose/Dockerfile_FOD
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ RUN sed -i -e 's/# en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/' /etc/locale.gen && \
 ENV LANG en_US.UTF-8
 RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get -o Dpkg::Options::='--force-confdef' -o Dpkg::Options::='--force-confold' --assume-yes -fuy dist-upgrade
 RUN apt-get install -y git less man make gcc strace ltrace lsof file vim tshark tcpdump curl wget net-tools sudo psutils procps iptables iputils-ping iputils-tracepath hping3 iproute2 supervisor
+# currently needed to check health of db container:
+RUN apt-get install -y mariadb-client
 #RUN useradd exabgp
 RUN mkdir -p /var/run/supervisor /opt/FOD
 WORKDIR /opt/FOD
diff --git a/flowspy/settings.py.dist b/flowspy/settings.py.dist
index 288ee527aa70eb3b17027e0dbc5e0d6f72bcdcbf..6074f309a8c4d6ab1d944dacab1558e0e16362fa 100644
--- a/flowspy/settings.py.dist
+++ b/flowspy/settings.py.dist
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ DATABASES = {
         'USER': '',                       # DB_USER
         'PASSWORD': '',                   # DB_PASSWORD
         'HOST': os.getenv('FOD_DB_HOST', ''),  # Set to empty string for localhost.
-        'PORT': os.getenv('FOD_DB_PORT', ''),  # Set to empty string for default.
+        'PORT': os.getenv('FOD_DB_PORT', '3306'),  # Set to empty string for default. | now set to 3306 for mysql/mariadb default
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/install-debian.sh b/install-debian.sh
index 078e23c6920072bb2919d5eff75fec0d15533b09..10b1611049a6c9e152bf66a3eb5f80cbbd94222a 100755
--- a/install-debian.sh
+++ b/install-debian.sh
@@ -408,7 +408,8 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
     conf_db_access="' + os.getenv('FOD_DB_ENG', 'mysql') + '"
     DB__FOD_DBNAME="_require_env('FOD_DB_NAME')"
     DB__FOD_USER="_require_env('FOD_DB_USER')"
-    DB__FOD_PASSWORD="_require_env('FOD_DB_PASS')"
+    #DB__FOD_PASSWORD="_require_env('FOD_DB_PASS')"
+    DB__FOD_PASSWORD="os.getenv('FOD_DB_PASS', '')"
   elif [ $# -ge 1 -a "$1" = "--setup_admin_user" ]; then
     shift 1
      setup_adminuser=1