diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
index 76e69be..306f9d0 100644
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
-# Speed-test and IP change scripts
+# Monitoring scripts for IP changes and connection speed
 
 ## Requirements
 
-* Python 3 with modules `mysql-connector-python` and `speedtest-cli`
-* A SQL database (MariaDB is recommended)
+* Python 3 with the modules from `requirements.txt`
+* A MySQL database (I use MariaDB)
+* A DynDNS server that supports the [Remote Access Update API](https://help.dyn.com/remote-access-api/)
+
 
 ## Usage
 
-1. Create tables in the database using `tables.sql`
-2. Configure the scripts in the fields provided
-3. Add cron-jobs for the scripts. I currently use an interval of 15 seconds
+1. Configure the two scripts using `config.ini`
+1. Set cronjobs for the two scripts. I currently run them every 15 minutes.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config.ini b/config.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3df0a75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+[db]
+user =
+password =
+host =
+database =
+[dyndns]
+user =
+password =
+url =
+
+
diff --git a/ipch.py b/ipch.py
index ba2833e..bfc4d4c 100755
--- a/ipch.py
+++ b/ipch.py
@@ -2,23 +2,47 @@
 import requests
 import mysql.connector
 import datetime
+import configparser
+import sys
 
 # Configuration
-DYNDNS_AUTH = {'user':'','pass':''}
-DYNDNS_URL = ''
-DB_CONFIG = {
-    'user': '',
-    'password': '',
-    'host': '',
-    'db': ''
-    }
-result = requests.get(DYNDNS_URL, auth=(DYNDNS_AUTH['user'], DYNDNS_AUTH['pass']))
+cfg = configparser.ConfigParser()
+with open('config.ini', 'r') as f:
+    cfg.read_file(f)
+
+DYN_CFG = cfg['dyndns']
+
+IPCH_TABLE_CMD = """CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ipch (
+time DATETIME,
+status NATIONAL CHARACTER VARYING(8),
+ip NATIONAL CHARACTER VARYING(15)
+);
+"""
+
+for s in 'user', 'password', 'url':
+    if s not in DYN_CFG:
+        print(f'{s} missing. Please add the {s} property to your config.ini\'s [dyndns] section.')
+        exit(1)
+
+DB_CONFIG = {k: v for k, v in cfg['db'].items() if k in ['user', 'password', 'host', 'database']}
+
+result = requests.get(DYN_CFG['url'], auth=(DYN_CFG['user'], DYN_CFG['password']))
 s = result.content.decode("unicode_escape").rstrip('\n').split(' ')
-cx=mysql.connector.connect(**DB_CONFIG)
-c=cx.cursor()
-data = (datetime.datetime.now(),s[0],s[1])
+cx = mysql.connector.connect(**DB_CONFIG)
+c = cx.cursor()
+if s[0] in ['nochg', 'good']:
+    data = (datetime.datetime.now(), s[0], s[1])
+elif s[0] == 'badauth':
+    exit('Bad DynDNS authentication provided. Please check the [dyndns] section in config.ini.')
+elif s[0] == 'nohost':
+    exit('The server says this host does not exist.')
+else:
+    print(f'status unknown: {s[0]}', file=sys.stderr)
+    data = (datetime.datetime.now(), s[0], None)
+
 try:
-    c.execute("INSERT INTO ipch_he (time,status,ip) values (%s,%s,%s)",data)
+    c.execute(IPCH_TABLE_CMD)
+    c.execute('INSERT INTO ipch (time, status, ip) values (%s, %s, %s)', data)
     cx.commit()
 except:
     cx.rollback()
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05c606d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+speedtest-cli
+mysql-connector-python
+requests
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/st.py b/st.py
index 29a88af..0625d24 100755
--- a/st.py
+++ b/st.py
@@ -1,60 +1,76 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-import speedtest
-import csv
+import sys
 import datetime
+import configparser
 import mysql.connector
-import os
+import speedtest
+from socket import timeout
 
-db_config = {
-    'user': 'm_imp',
-    'password': '123',
-    'host': '127.0.0.1',
-    'database': 'speedtests'
-    }
+cfg = configparser.ConfigParser()
+with open('config.ini') as f:
+    cfg.read_file(f)
+
+db_config = {k: v for k, v in cfg['db'].items() if k in ['user', 'password', 'host', 'database']}
+
+
+SPEEDTEST_TABLE_CMD = """CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS sts (
+test_no INTEGER UNSIGNED PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
+server_id INTEGER,
+sponsor NATIONAL CHARACTER VARYING(40),
+time DATETIME,
+distance FLOAT UNSIGNED,
+ping FLOAT UNSIGNED,
+download FLOAT UNSIGNED,
+upload FLOAT UNSIGNED
+);
+"""
 
 try:
-    cx=mysql.connector.connect(**db_config)
-    c=cx.cursor()
+    cx = mysql.connector.connect(**db_config)
+    c = cx.cursor()
+    upload_statement = """INSERT INTO sts (server_id, sponsor, time, distance, ping, download, upload) 
+    VALUES (%s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s)"""
+
+    try:
+        s = speedtest.Speedtest()
+        s.get_servers()
+        s.get_best_server()
+        s.download()
+        s.upload()
+        d = s.results.dict()
+        u = (
+            d['server']['id'],
+            d['server']['sponsor'],
+            d['timestamp'],
+            d['server']['d'],  # distance
+            d['server']['latency'],
+            d['download'],
+            d['upload']
+        )
+    except (speedtest.SpeedtestException, timeout):
+        u = (
+            None,
+            None,
+            str(datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat()) + 'Z',
+            None,
+            None,
+            None,
+            None
+        )
+        print("Speedtest failed", file=sys.stderr)
+    try:
+        c.execute(SPEEDTEST_TABLE_CMD)
+        c.execute(upload_statement, u)
+
+        cx.commit()
+    except mysql.connector.Error:
+        cx.rollback()
+        raise
+    c.close()
+    cx.close()
 except mysql.connector.Error as err:
+    print(err)
     exit('Could not open database')
 
-upload_statement = "INSERT INTO sts (server_id,sponsor,serv_name,time,distance,ping,download,upload) VALUES (%s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s, %s)"
 
-try:
-    s=speedtest.Speedtest()
-    s.get_servers()
-    s.get_best_server()
-    s.download()
-    s.upload()
-    d=s.results.dict()
-    u=(
-        d['server']['id'],
-        d['server']['sponsor'],
-        d['server']['name'],
-        d['timestamp'],
-        d['server']['d'], # distance
-        d['server']['latency'],
-        d['download'],
-        d['upload']
-    )
-except speedtest.SpeedtestException:
-    u=(
-        None,
-        str(datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat())+'Z',
-        None,
-        None,
-        None,
-        None,
-        None,
-        None
-    )
-
-try:
-    c.execute(upload_statement, u)
-    cx.commit()
-except:
-    cx.rollback()
-    raise
-c.close()
-cx.close()
-#print("Uploaded" + str(u))
+# print("Uploaded" + str(u))
diff --git a/tables.sql b/tables.sql
deleted file mode 100644
index 423e955..0000000
--- a/tables.sql
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ipch (
-	time datetime,
-	status text,
-	ip text
-);
-CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS sts (
-	test_no integer unsigned primary key auto_increment,
-	server_id tinytext,
-	sponsor tinytext,
-	time datetime,
-	distance float unsigned,
-	ping float unsigned,
-	download float unsigned,
-	upload float unsigned
-);