diff --git a/node/server.js b/node/server.js
index bbcf005da..442b6d3f2 100644
--- a/node/server.js
+++ b/node/server.js
@@ -392,6 +392,40 @@ function logOkPostCombinator(prefix, consoleFn, field){
   }
 }
 
+function configureCombinator(app, settings, basic_auth, log4js, httpLogger){
+  return function configBack() 
+  {
+    // Activate http basic auth if it has been defined in settings.json
+    if(settings.httpAuth != null) app.use(basic_auth);
+
+    // If the log level specified in the config file is WARN or ERROR the application server never starts listening to requests as reported in issue #158.
+    // Not installing the log4js connect logger when the log level has a higher severity than INFO since it would not log at that level anyway.
+    if (!(settings.loglevel === "WARN" || settings.loglevel == "ERROR"))
+      app.use(log4js.connectLogger(httpLogger, { level: log4js.levels.INFO, format: ':status, :method :url'}));
+    app.use(express.cookieParser());
+  };
+}
+
+//checks for basic http auth
+function basic_auth (req, res, next) {
+  if (req.headers.authorization && req.headers.authorization.search('Basic ') === 0) {
+    // fetch login and password
+    if (new Buffer(req.headers.authorization.split(' ')[1], 'base64').toString() == settings.httpAuth) {
+      next();
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+  
+  res.header('WWW-Authenticate', 'Basic realm="Protected Area"');
+  if (req.headers.authorization) {
+    setTimeout(function () {
+      res.send('Authentication required', 401);
+    }, 1000);
+  } else {
+    res.send('Authentication required', 401);
+  }
+}
+
 async.waterfall([
   //initalize the database
   setupDb,
@@ -413,17 +447,7 @@ async.waterfall([
     
     //install logging      
     var httpLogger = log4js.getLogger("http");
-    app.configure(function() 
-    {
-      // Activate http basic auth if it has been defined in settings.json
-      if(settings.httpAuth != null) app.use(basic_auth);
-
-      // If the log level specified in the config file is WARN or ERROR the application server never starts listening to requests as reported in issue #158.
-      // Not installing the log4js connect logger when the log level has a higher severity than INFO since it would not log at that level anyway.
-      if (!(settings.loglevel === "WARN" || settings.loglevel == "ERROR"))
-        app.use(log4js.connectLogger(httpLogger, { level: log4js.levels.INFO, format: ':status, :method :url'}));
-      app.use(express.cookieParser());
-    });
+    app.configure(configureCombinator(app, settings, basic_auth, log4js, httpLogger));
     
     app.error(function(err, req, res, next){
       res.send(500);
@@ -449,25 +473,7 @@ async.waterfall([
       );
     }
 
-    //checks for basic http auth
-    function basic_auth (req, res, next) {
-      if (req.headers.authorization && req.headers.authorization.search('Basic ') === 0) {
-        // fetch login and password
-        if (new Buffer(req.headers.authorization.split(' ')[1], 'base64').toString() == settings.httpAuth) {
-          next();
-          return;
-        }
-      }
-      
-      res.header('WWW-Authenticate', 'Basic realm="Protected Area"');
-      if (req.headers.authorization) {
-        setTimeout(function () {
-          res.send('Authentication required', 401);
-        }, 1000);
-      } else {
-        res.send('Authentication required', 401);
-      }
-    }
+    
     
     //serve read only pad
       app.get('/ro/:id', getRoCombinator(serverName, {ro: readOnlyManager}, hasPadAccess, ERR, exporthtml));