diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34d5a78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+### Create `photos` user for DB
+
+You will need to know the root password for your mariadb installation. If you
+need to reset the root password, you can perform the following:
+
+```bash
+export PASSWORD=m4g1cP4ssw0rd
+sudo service mysql stop
+sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
+sleep 1 # mysqld_safe can take a bit of time to come online
+sudo mysql << EOF
+use mysql;
+UPDATE user SET PASSWORD=PASSWORD("${PASSWORD}") WHERE USER='root';
+UPDATE user SET plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE USER='root';
+FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
+QUIT
+EOF
+sudo service mysql stop
+sudo service mysql start
+```
+
+Once you know the root password, you can then create a new user and DB 
+for the photo app via:
+
+### Create the USER
+
+```bash
+U=photos
+P=p4$$w0rd
+mysql -u root --password=${PASSWORD} << EOF
+GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO '${U}'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '${P}';
+EOF
+```
+
+```bash
+D=photos
+mysql -u ${U} --password=${P} << EOF
+DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS ${D};
+CREATE DATABASE ${D} CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
+EOF
+```
+
diff --git a/config/default.json b/config/default.json
index 04ec597..bc36635 100644
--- a/config/default.json
+++ b/config/default.json
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
 {
-  "picturesPath": "./pictures"
+  "db": {
+    "host": "mysql://photos:p4$$w0rd@localhost/photos",
+    "options": {}
+  },
+  "server": {
+    "port": 8080
+  },
+  "picturesPath": "./pictures",
+  "basePath": "/photos"
 }
diff --git a/frontend/bower.json b/frontend/bower.json
index a9d7803..3ba5abf 100644
--- a/frontend/bower.json
+++ b/frontend/bower.json
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
     "paper-dialog": "PolymerElements/paper-dialog#^1.1.0",
     "paper-dialog-scrollable": "PolymerElements/paper-dialog-scrollable#^1.1.5",
     "iron-collapse": "PolymerElements/iron-collapse#^1.2.1",
-    "paper-spinner": "PolymerElements/paper-spinner#^1.0.0",
+    "paper-spinner": "PolymerElements/paper-spinner#^2.0.0",
     "paper-autocomplete": "^1.3.0",
     "iron-accordions": "https://github.com/alijaya/iron-accordions.git#^1.1.0",
     "paper-input": "PolymerElements/paper-input#^1.1.20",
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
   "resolutions": {
     "polymer": "^1.4.0",
     "iron-location": "^1.0.0",
-    "iron-collapse": "^1.2.1"
+    "iron-collapse": "^1.2.1",
+    "paper-spinner": "^1.0.0"
   }
 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 67d9d48..d2e23f2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -16,12 +16,16 @@
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "dependencies": {
     "bluebird": "^3.5.1",
-    "body-parser": "^1.17.2",
+    "body-parser": "^1.18.2",
     "config": "^1.28.1",
-    "express": "^4.15.2",
-    "morgan": "^1.8.1",
+    "cookie-parser": "^1.4.3",
+    "express": "^4.16.2",
+    "mariasql": "^0.2.6",
+    "morgan": "^1.9.0",
+    "mysql2": "^1.5.1",
     "node-inspector": "^1.1.1",
-    "sequelize": "^4.28.6"
+    "sequelize": "^4.28.6",
+    "sequelize-mysql": "^1.7.0"
   },
   "jshintConfig": {
     "undef": true,