diff --git a/mayan/settings/base.py b/mayan/settings/base.py
index 2945c29629..8f7ac02952 100644
--- a/mayan/settings/base.py
+++ b/mayan/settings/base.py
@@ -23,7 +23,11 @@ import environ
 
 import mayan
 
-from .literals import DEFAULT_SECRET_KEY, SECRET_KEY_FILENAME, SYSTEM_DIR
+from .literals import (
+    CONFIGURATION_FILENAME, CONFIGURATION_LAST_GOOD_FILENAME,
+    DEFAULT_SECRET_KEY, SECRET_KEY_FILENAME, SYSTEM_DIR
+)
+from .utils import yaml_loads, read_configuration_file
 
 env = environ.Env()
 
@@ -50,10 +54,12 @@ else:
         SECRET_KEY = DEFAULT_SECRET_KEY
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
-DEBUG = False
+DEBUG = env.bool('MAYAN_DEBUG', default=False)
 
-ALLOWED_HOSTS = env.list(
-    'MAYAN_ALLOWED_HOSTS', default=['127.0.0.1', 'localhost', '[::1]']
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = yaml_loads(
+    env(
+        'MAYAN_ALLOWED_HOSTS', default="['127.0.0.1', 'localhost', '[::1]']"
+    )
 )
 
 # Application definition
@@ -347,47 +353,11 @@ else:
             'NAME': os.path.join(MEDIA_ROOT, 'db.sqlite3'),
         }
     }
-# ----- Debug -----
 
-DEBUG = env.bool('MAYAN_DEBUG', default=False)
-
-
-
-CONFIGURATION_FILENAME = '_settings.yml'
 CONFIGURATION_FILEPATH = os.path.join(MEDIA_ROOT, CONFIGURATION_FILENAME)
-
-CONFIGURATION_USER_FILENAME = 'config.yml'
-CONFIGURATION_USER_FILEPATH = os.path.join(
-    MEDIA_ROOT, CONFIGURATION_USER_FILENAME
-)
-
-CONFIGURATION_LAST_GOOD_FILENAME = '_settings_backup.yml'
 CONFIGURATION_LAST_GOOD_FILEPATH = os.path.join(
     MEDIA_ROOT, CONFIGURATION_LAST_GOOD_FILENAME
 )
 
-
-def read_configuration_file(path):
-    try:
-        with open(CONFIGURATION_FILEPATH) as file_object:
-            file_object.seek(0, os.SEEK_END)
-            if file_object.tell():
-                file_object.seek(0)
-                try:
-                    globals().update(yaml.safe_load(file_object))
-                except yaml.YAMLError as exception:
-                    exit(
-                        'Error loading configuration file: {}; {}'.format(
-                            CONFIGURATION_FILEPATH, exception
-                        )
-                    )
-    except IOError as exception:
-        if exception.errno == errno.ENOENT:
-            pass
-        else:
-            raise
-
-
 if not 'revertsettings' in sys.argv:
-    read_configuration_file(CONFIGURATION_FILEPATH)
-    read_configuration_file(CONFIGURATION_USER_FILEPATH)
+    globals().update(read_configuration_file(CONFIGURATION_FILEPATH))
diff --git a/mayan/settings/literals.py b/mayan/settings/literals.py
index fd4ea1e65a..874921fb65 100644
--- a/mayan/settings/literals.py
+++ b/mayan/settings/literals.py
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
+import os
+
 DEFAULT_SECRET_KEY = 'secret-key-missing!'
 SECRET_KEY_FILENAME = 'SECRET_KEY'
 SYSTEM_DIR = 'system'
+
+CONFIGURATION_FILENAME = 'config.yml'
+CONFIGURATION_LAST_GOOD_FILENAME = 'config_backup.yml'
diff --git a/mayan/settings/utils.py b/mayan/settings/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d859212a4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mayan/settings/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import errno
+import os
+import sys
+
+import yaml
+
+
+def read_configuration_file(path):
+    try:
+        with open(path) as file_object:
+            file_object.seek(0, os.SEEK_END)
+            if file_object.tell():
+                file_object.seek(0)
+                try:
+                    return yaml.safe_load(file_object)
+                except yaml.YAMLError as exception:
+                    exit(
+                        'Error loading configuration file: {}; {}'.format(
+                            path, exception
+                        )
+                    )
+    except IOError as exception:
+        if exception.errno == errno.ENOENT:
+            pass
+        else:
+            raise
+
+
+def yaml_loads(data, error_message=None):
+    if not error_message:
+        error_message = 'Error loading: {}; {}'
+
+    try:
+        return yaml.safe_load(data)
+    except yaml.YAMLError as exception:
+        exit(
+            error_message.format(string, exception)
+        )