diff --git a/ScrumTaskboard/Startup.cs b/ScrumTaskboard/Startup.cs
index f2c24cd..2666f5f 100644
--- a/ScrumTaskboard/Startup.cs
+++ b/ScrumTaskboard/Startup.cs
@@ -25,14 +25,7 @@ namespace ScrumTaskboard
 
         // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to add services to the container.
         public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
-        {
-            // Get all the env vars for the DB connection
-            string dbHost = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_HOST");
-            string dbPort = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_PORT");
-            string dbName = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_NAME");
-            string dbUser = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_USER");
-            string dbPassword = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_PASSWORD");
-
+        {   
             services.AddCors(o => o.AddPolicy("AllowAll", builder =>
             {
                 builder.AllowAnyOrigin()
@@ -41,7 +34,7 @@ namespace ScrumTaskboard
             }));
             services.AddScoped(serviceProvider => new TaskContext(
                 new DbContextOptionsBuilder<TaskContext>()
-                .UseNpgsql($"Host={dbHost}; Port={dbPort}; Username={dbUser}; Database={dbName}; Password={dbPassword}")
+                .UseNpgsql(GetConnectionString())
                 .Options));
             services.AddControllers();
         }
@@ -72,5 +65,36 @@ namespace ScrumTaskboard
                 endpoints.MapControllers();
             });
         }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Creates DB Connection String based on ENV vars and default vars.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <returns></returns>
+        public string GetConnectionString()
+        {
+            string dbHost;
+            string dbPort;
+            string dbName;
+            string dbUser;
+            string dbPassword;
+
+            try {
+                dbHost = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_HOST");
+                dbPort = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_PORT");
+                dbName = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_NAME");
+                dbUser = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_USER");
+                dbPassword = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DATABASE_PASSWORD");
+            }
+            catch {
+                dbHost = "nig.gl";
+                dbPort = "8543";
+                dbName = "taskboard";
+                dbUser = "scrum";
+                dbPassword = "c6gXud7YvBWp2sgxSgy4wRN";
+            }
+            
+
+            return $"Host={dbHost}; Port={dbPort}; Username={dbUser}; Database={dbName}; Password={dbPassword}";
+            }
     }
 }