diff --git a/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/rc.d/init.d/masq/90adjustFail2Ban b/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/rc.d/init.d/masq/90adjustFail2Ban
index 039a0db..4a202d5 100644
--- a/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/rc.d/init.d/masq/90adjustFail2Ban
+++ b/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/rc.d/init.d/masq/90adjustFail2Ban
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
-    my $f2bdb = esmith::ConfigDB->open_ro('fail2ban');
+    my $f2bdb = esmith::ConfigDB->open_ro('fail2ban') ||
+        esmith::ConfigDB->create('fail2ban');
     # Find the current Fail2Ban_$$ chain, and create a new one.
     $OUT .=<<'EOF';
     OLD_Fail2Ban=$(get_safe_id Fail2Ban filter find)
diff --git a/root/sbin/e-smith/smeserver-fail2ban b/root/sbin/e-smith/smeserver-fail2ban
index 8dfc156..46eaac9 100644
--- a/root/sbin/e-smith/smeserver-fail2ban
+++ b/root/sbin/e-smith/smeserver-fail2ban
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ use warnings;
 use esmith::ConfigDB;
 use Getopt::Long;
 
-our $f2bdb = esmith::ConfigDB->open('fail2ban');
+our $f2bdb = esmith::ConfigDB->open('fail2ban') || esmith::ConfigDB->create('fail2ban');
 our $c = esmith::ConfigDB->open_ro;
 our %opts;