diff --git a/Dockerfiles/Dockerfile.geocml-server b/Dockerfiles/Dockerfile.geocml-server
index 2acdc12..1dc7c3f 100644
--- a/Dockerfiles/Dockerfile.geocml-server
+++ b/Dockerfiles/Dockerfile.geocml-server
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 FROM ubuntu:22.04
 
+USER root
+
 RUN apt update
 
 # Install QGIS Server
@@ -12,6 +14,7 @@ RUN apt install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 libapache2-mod-fcgid
 COPY ./build-resources/geocml-server/geocml.server.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/geocml.server.conf
 
 # Enable geocml.server and Apache
+# TODO: this should be in the Ansible playbook
 RUN a2ensite geocml.server
 
 # Install Ansible
diff --git a/ansible-playbooks/geocml-server-playbook.yaml b/ansible-playbooks/geocml-server-playbook.yaml
index d28a410..c5bcc23 100644
--- a/ansible-playbooks/geocml-server-playbook.yaml
+++ b/ansible-playbooks/geocml-server-playbook.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-- # Configure apache2
+- # Configure geocml-server
   hosts: localhost
   connection: local
   gather_facts: yes
@@ -15,11 +15,3 @@
         state: present
         name: fcgid
         force: true
-    - name: Make QGIS Server log dir
-      ansible.builtin.command: mkdir -p /var/log/qgis/
-    - name: Change QGIS Server log dir's owner to www-data
-      ansible.builtin.command: chown www-data:www-data /var/log/qgis
-    - name: Make qgisserverdb dir
-      ansible.builtin.command: mkdir -p /home/qgis/qgisserverdb
-    - name: Change qgisserverdb dir's owner to www-data
-      ansible.builtin.command: chown www-data:www-data /home/qgis/qgisserverdb
diff --git a/build-resources/geocml-server/geocml.server.conf b/build-resources/geocml-server/geocml.server.conf
index 8ce7878..245acfb 100644
--- a/build-resources/geocml-server/geocml.server.conf
+++ b/build-resources/geocml-server/geocml.server.conf
@@ -3,38 +3,21 @@ WSGIPythonPath /var/www/html
 
 <VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
-  ServerName geocml.server 
+  ServerName geocml.server
 
   DocumentRoot /var/www/html
 
-  # Apache logs (different than QGIS Server log)
-  ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/geocml.server.error.log
-  CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/geocml.server.access.log combined
-
-  # Longer timeout for WPS... default = 40
   FcgidIOTimeout 120
 
   FcgidInitialEnv LC_ALL "en_US.UTF-8"
   FcgidInitialEnv PYTHONIOENCODING UTF-8
   FcgidInitialEnv LANG "en_US.UTF-8"
 
-  # QGIS log
   FcgidInitialEnv QGIS_SERVER_LOG_STDERR 1
   FcgidInitialEnv QGIS_SERVER_LOG_LEVEL 0
 
-  # default QGIS project
-  SetEnv QGIS_PROJECT_FILE /Persistence/geocml-project.qgz
-
-  # QGIS_AUTH_DB_DIR_PATH must lead to a directory writeable by the Server's FCGI process user
-  FcgidInitialEnv QGIS_AUTH_DB_DIR_PATH "/home/qgis/qgisserverdb/"
-  FcgidInitialEnv QGIS_AUTH_PASSWORD_FILE "/home/qgis/qgisserverdb/qgis-auth.db"
-
-  # Set pg access via pg_service file
-  SetEnv PGSERVICEFILE /home/qgis/.pg_service.conf
-  FcgidInitialEnv PGPASSFILE "/home/qgis/.pgpass"
+  SetEnv QGIS_PROJECT_FILE /usr/lib/cgi-bin/geocml-project.qgz
 
-  # if qgis-server is installed from packages in debian based distros this is usually /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
-  # run "locate qgis_mapserv.fcgi" if you don't know where qgis_mapserv.fcgi is
   ScriptAlias "/cgi-bin/" "/usr/lib/cgi-bin/"
   <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin/">
     AllowOverride None
diff --git a/build-resources/geocml-server/portal/portal/views.py b/build-resources/geocml-server/portal/portal/views.py
index 9f05637..294a621 100644
--- a/build-resources/geocml-server/portal/portal/views.py
+++ b/build-resources/geocml-server/portal/portal/views.py
@@ -11,23 +11,23 @@ def get_status(service):
     try:
         res = os.system('ping {} -c 2'.format(service))
         if res == 0:
-            return True 
+            return True
         else:
             return False
     except RuntimeError as e:
-        logger.warning(e) 
+        logger.warning(e)
         return False
 
 def get_vnc_connection_details_as_yaml(request):
     return """
-    url: {}:5901 
+    url: {}:5901
     """.format(request.get_host())
 
 def get_postgres_connection_details_as_yaml():
     return """
     host: geocml-postgres
     port: 5432
-    database: geocml_db 
+    database: geocml_db
     """
 
 def index(request):
diff --git a/build-resources/geocml-server/start-geocml-server.sh b/build-resources/geocml-server/start-geocml-server.sh
index d05635a..f43871d 100644
--- a/build-resources/geocml-server/start-geocml-server.sh
+++ b/build-resources/geocml-server/start-geocml-server.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+ln -s /Persistence/geocml-project.qgz /usr/lib/cgi-bin/geocml-project.qgz
 service apache2 start
 cd /var/www/html/ && python3 manage.py makemigrations
 cd /var/www/html/ && python3 manage.py migrate
 cd /var/www/html/ && python3 manage.py collectstatic --noinput
-cd /var/www/html/ && python3 manage.py runserver --verbosity 3
\ No newline at end of file
+cd /var/www/html/ && python3 manage.py runserver --verbosity 3