diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index c82148e4..cd945c78 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 benchmarking-tests export-ignore
 deploy-cluster-aws export-ignore
-docs export-ignore export-ignore
+docs export-ignore
+ntools export-ignore
 speed-tests export-ignore
 tests export-ignore
 .gitattributes export-ignore
diff --git a/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py b/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
index 77d0e558..9ef24edd 100644
--- a/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
+++ b/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ def install_bigchaindb_from_git_archive():
 @task
 @parallel
 def configure_bigchaindb():
-    run('bigchaindb -y configure', pty=False)
+    run('bigchaindb -y configure rethinkdb', pty=False)
 
 
 # Send the specified configuration file to
diff --git a/deploy-cluster-aws/make_confiles.sh b/deploy-cluster-aws/make_confiles.sh
index 72735cb3..052ecaf0 100755
--- a/deploy-cluster-aws/make_confiles.sh
+++ b/deploy-cluster-aws/make_confiles.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 #! /bin/bash
 
-# The set -e option instructs bash to immediately exit
-# if any command has a non-zero exit status
-set -e
+set -euo pipefail
 
 function printErr()
     {
@@ -36,5 +34,5 @@ mkdir $CONFDIR
 for (( i=0; i<$NUMFILES; i++ )); do
     CONPATH=$CONFDIR"/bcdb_conf"$i
     echo "Writing "$CONPATH
-    bigchaindb -y -c $CONPATH configure
+    bigchaindb -y -c $CONPATH configure rethinkdb
 done