diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index b939f857e842f3218a93c39d49938655ab380023..b0e2d49c6c24816b8f81cb9fa36e690097f4d830 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ backend_deploy:
     SSH_DEPLOY_KEY: $DEPLOY_PRIVATE_KEY
 
   script:
-    - ssh $DEPLOY_HOST "docker pull $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE_BACKEND; docker service update --force $DEPLOY_SERVICE_BACKEND;"
+    - ssh -4 $DEPLOY_HOST "docker pull $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE_BACKEND; docker service update --force $DEPLOY_SERVICE_BACKEND;"
 
   only:
     - master
diff --git a/Backend/Dockerfile b/Backend/Dockerfile
index 314ee8a677d47a4a9dbc62f879f370b709889437..6f3b97f7223e1a73acafc56f9f028098da827e40 100644
--- a/Backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/Backend/Dockerfile
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ WORKDIR /pvk
 # API will run on port 80
 EXPOSE 8080
 # Environment variable for config, use path for docker secrets as default
-ENV pvk_CONFIG=/run/secrets/pvk_config
+ENV PVK_CONFIG=/run/secrets/pvk_config
 
 # Install bjoern and dependencies for install (we need to keep libev)
 RUN apk add --no-cache --virtual .deps \
diff --git a/Backend/backend/app.py b/Backend/backend/app.py
index a23b21d2cd3b248b1273bc66eee4e819f12cd2e4..b3a5b7ec2cc22302985a0e4130581f051218b49a 100644
--- a/Backend/backend/app.py
+++ b/Backend/backend/app.py
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ Next, you should check out the following files:
 
 """
 
-from os import getcwd
+from os import getcwd, getenv
+from os.path import abspath
 from eve import Eve
 from flask import Config
 
@@ -33,19 +34,40 @@ from backend.signups import (
 )
 
 
-def create_app(settings=None):
-    """Super simply bootstrapping for easier testing.
+def create_app(config_file=None, **kwargs):
+    """Create a new eve app object and initialize everything.
 
-    Initial settings are loaded from settings.py (the Flask `Config` object
-    makes this easy) and updated settings from the function call, if provided.
+    User configuration can be loaded in the following order:
+
+    1. Use the `config_file` arg to specify a file
+    2. If `config_file` is `None`, you set the environment variable
+       `PVK_CONFIG` to the path of your config file
+    3. If no environment variable is set either, `config.py` in the current
+       working directory is used
+
+    Args:
+        config (path): Specify config file to use.
+        kwargs: All other key-value arguments will be used to update the config
+    Returns:
+        (Eve): The Eve application
     """
+    # Load config
     config = Config(getcwd())
-    config.from_object('backend.settings')
-    if settings is not None:
-        config.update(settings)
+    config.from_object("backend.settings")
+
+    # Specified path > environment var > default path; abspath for better log
+    user_config = abspath(config_file or getenv('PVK_CONFIG', 'config.py'))
+    try:
+        config.from_pyfile(user_config)
+        config_status = "Config loaded: %s" % user_config
+    except IOError:
+        config_status = "No config found."
+
+    config.update(kwargs)
 
     # Create the app object
     application = Eve(auth=APIAuth, validator=APIValidator, settings=config)
+    application.logger.info(config_status)
 
     # Eve provides hooks at several points of the request,
     # we use this do add dynamic filtering
diff --git a/Backend/backend/settings.py b/Backend/backend/settings.py
index a3d0d5b826223850d5db9a27b076c3579eecd9f3..ccc4d1a64265942f8343ad8cb6d78fa55aedd946 100644
--- a/Backend/backend/settings.py
+++ b/Backend/backend/settings.py
@@ -16,16 +16,17 @@ X_DOMAINS = '*'
 X_HEADERS = ['Authorization', 'If-Match', 'If-Modified-Since', 'Content-Type']
 
 # AMIVAPI URL and Admin Group
-AMIVAPI_URL = environ.get('AMIVAPI_URL', 'https://amiv-api.ethz.ch')
-ADMIN_GROUP_NAME = environ.get('AMIVAPI_GROUP', 'PVK Admins')
+AMIVAPI_URL = 'https://amiv-api.ethz.ch'
+ADMIN_GROUP_NAME = 'PVK Admins'
 
-# DB
+# DB (can be set by env for easier CI tests)
 MONGO_HOST = environ.get('MONGO_HOST', 'localhost')
 MONGO_PORT = environ.get('MONGO_PORT', 27017)
 MONGO_DBNAME = environ.get('MONGO_DBNAME', 'pvk')
 MONGO_USERNAME = environ.get('MONGO_USERNAME', 'pvkuser')
 MONGO_PASSWORD = environ.get('MONGO_PASSWORD', 'pvkpass')
 
+
 # Only JSON, simplifies hooks
 XML = False
 
diff --git a/Backend/create_demo_data.py b/Backend/create_demo_data.py
index 5f376d683820ccf216c6b05b3a97cba54a733430..ef3e996625c0bd17268bc19d67a31dfb883384af 100644
--- a/Backend/create_demo_data.py
+++ b/Backend/create_demo_data.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from datetime import datetime as dt, timedelta
 import requests
 
 AMIVAPI_DEV_URL = "https://amiv-api.ethz.ch"
-PVK_DEV_URL = 'http://localhost:80'  # 'http://pvk-api-dev.amiv.ethz.ch'
+PVK_DEV_URL = 'http://pvk-api-dev.amiv.ethz.ch'
 
 DATE_FORMAT = "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"
 ASSISTANTS = ['pablo', 'assi', 'anon', 'mongo']
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ def create_course(lecture, assistant, token, open_signup=True):
         'room': next(ROOM),
         'spots': randint(MIN_SPOTS, MAX_SPOTS),
     }
-    return post('courses', data, token)['_id']
+    return post('courses', data, token)
 
 
 def create_signups(course, token):
diff --git a/Backend/requirements.txt b/Backend/requirements.txt
index 15809ea69cd4f1c268e95f70c9cd5c5a9eb79dcb..bd714ad92265f5e825af24f4cc1b32b22dad00e2 100644
--- a/Backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/Backend/requirements.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
+attrs==17.3.0
 Cerberus==0.9.2
 certifi==2017.11.5
 chardet==3.0.4
 click==6.7
-Eve==0.7.4
+Eve==0.7.8
 Events==0.2.2
 Flask==0.12
 Flask-PyMongo==0.5.1
@@ -10,8 +11,13 @@ idna==2.6
 itsdangerous==0.24
 Jinja2==2.10
 MarkupSafe==0.23
-pymongo==3.5.1
+pluggy==0.6.0
+py==1.5.2
+pymongo==3.6.1
 requests==2.18.4
 simplejson==3.13.2
+six==1.11.0
+tox==2.9.1
 urllib3==1.22
+virtualenv==15.1.0
 Werkzeug==0.11.15
diff --git a/Backend/tests/conftest.py b/Backend/tests/conftest.py
index d91989542fe4e38132aa4855f4ae0adabd34e52c..129a8f6f567e4896d6191ef48834d023c5b7bbc3 100644
--- a/Backend/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/Backend/tests/conftest.py
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ def admin(self, **kwargs):
 @pytest.fixture
 def app():
     """Create app, instantiate test client, drop DB after use."""
-    application = create_app(settings=TEST_SETTINGS)
+    application = create_app(**TEST_SETTINGS)
     application.test_client_class = TestClient
     application.client = application.test_client()