diff --git a/awsapi/conf/CloudStack.cfg.xml b/awsapi/conf/CloudStack.cfg.xml
index cad7398a6f0..00bc7832519 100644
--- a/awsapi/conf/CloudStack.cfg.xml
+++ b/awsapi/conf/CloudStack.cfg.xml
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 	<!-- transactiion isolation level : 1 - read uncommitted, 2 - read committed, 4 - repeatable read, 8 - Serializable	 -->
 	<property name="hibernate.connection.isolation">2</property>
 	
-    <property name="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">update</property>
 	<property name="hibernate.order_updates">true</property>
     <property name="dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect</property>
     
diff --git a/awsapi/conf/hibernate.cfg.xml b/awsapi/conf/hibernate.cfg.xml
index 3542cd23bc2..bc445bd4f1d 100644
--- a/awsapi/conf/hibernate.cfg.xml
+++ b/awsapi/conf/hibernate.cfg.xml
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 	<!-- transactiion isolation level : 1 - read uncommitted, 2 - read committed, 4 - repeatable read, 8 - Serializable	 -->
 	<property name="hibernate.connection.isolation">2</property>
 	
-    <property name="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">update</property>
 	<property name="hibernate.order_updates">true</property>
     <property name="dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect</property>
     
diff --git a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/lifecycle/ServiceEngineLifecycle.java b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/lifecycle/ServiceEngineLifecycle.java
index 83060b6a1cf..099715c6663 100644
--- a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/lifecycle/ServiceEngineLifecycle.java
+++ b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/lifecycle/ServiceEngineLifecycle.java
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ package com.cloud.bridge.lifecycle;
 import org.apache.axis2.context.ConfigurationContext;
 import org.apache.axis2.description.AxisService;
 import org.apache.axis2.engine.ServiceLifeCycle;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+
+import com.cloud.bridge.persist.dao.UserCredentialsDao;
 import com.cloud.bridge.service.controller.s3.ServiceProvider;
 
 
@@ -29,13 +32,23 @@ import com.cloud.bridge.service.controller.s3.ServiceProvider;
  */
 public class ServiceEngineLifecycle implements ServiceLifeCycle {
 	private static final long serialVersionUID = -249114759030608486L;
+	public static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(ServiceEngineLifecycle.class);
+	private static boolean initialized = false;
 
 	public void startUp(ConfigurationContext config, AxisService service) {
 		// initialize service provider during Axis engine startup
-		ServiceProvider.getInstance();
+	    try{
+	        UserCredentialsDao.preCheckTableExistence();
+	        ServiceProvider.getInstance();
+	        ServiceEngineLifecycle.initialized = true;
+	    }catch(Exception e){
+	        logger.error("Error initializing awsapi: "+ e.getMessage());
+	    }
 	}
 	
 	public void shutDown(ConfigurationContext config, AxisService service) {
-		ServiceProvider.getInstance().shutdown();
+	    if(ServiceEngineLifecycle.initialized){
+	        ServiceProvider.getInstance().shutdown();
+	    }
 	}
 };
diff --git a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/persist/dao/UserCredentialsDao.java b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/persist/dao/UserCredentialsDao.java
index 2300535a22f..13b6d741a05 100644
--- a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/persist/dao/UserCredentialsDao.java
+++ b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/persist/dao/UserCredentialsDao.java
@@ -139,13 +139,9 @@ public class UserCredentialsDao extends BaseDao{
 		conn = null;
 	}
 
-	public static void preCheckTableExistence() {
+	public static void preCheckTableExistence() throws Exception{
 		UserCredentialsDao dao = new UserCredentialsDao();
-		try {
-			dao.checkTableExistence();
-		} catch (Exception e) {
-			e.printStackTrace();
-		}
+		dao.checkTableExistence();
 	}
 
 	private void checkTableExistence() throws InstantiationException, IllegalAccessException, ClassNotFoundException, SQLException {
diff --git a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/EC2MainServlet.java b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/EC2MainServlet.java
index 6448c84c15c..a25ea037100 100644
--- a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/EC2MainServlet.java
+++ b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/EC2MainServlet.java
@@ -40,12 +40,11 @@ public class EC2MainServlet extends HttpServlet{
     		if(value != null){
     		    isEC2APIEnabled = Boolean.valueOf(value);
     		}
-    		
-		}finally {
-		    PersistContext.commitTransaction(true);
+    		PersistContext.commitTransaction(true);
             PersistContext.closeSession(true);
-        }
-		
+		}catch(Exception e){
+		    throw new ServletException("Error initializing awsapi: " + e.getMessage());
+		}
 	}
 	
 	protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) {
diff --git a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/S3RestServlet.java b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/S3RestServlet.java
index 27b782e407b..99365591474 100644
--- a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/S3RestServlet.java
+++ b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/bridge/service/S3RestServlet.java
@@ -115,10 +115,10 @@ public class S3RestServlet extends HttpServlet {
     		if(value != null) {
     		    isS3APIEnabled = Boolean.valueOf(value);
     		}
-    		
-		}finally {
-		    PersistContext.commitTransaction(true);
+    		PersistContext.commitTransaction(true);
             PersistContext.closeSession(true);
+		}catch(Exception e){
+		    throw new ServletException("Error initializing awsapi: " + e.getMessage());
         }
 		
 	}