diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1fd8dc2..848f334 100755
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>com.erudika</groupId>
 			<artifactId>para-core</artifactId>
-			<version>1.29.2</version>
+			<version>1.30.0</version>
 			<scope>provided</scope>
 		</dependency>
 
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
 			<artifactId>h2</artifactId>
-			<!--	 1.4.197 breaks tests! -->
 			<version>1.4.197</version>
 		</dependency>
 
@@ -252,7 +251,7 @@
 					<plugin>
 						<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 						<artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
-						<version>2.10.4</version>
+						<version>3.0.1</version>
 						<executions>
 							<execution>
 								<id>attach-javadocs</id>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/erudika/para/persistence/H2Utils.java b/src/main/java/com/erudika/para/persistence/H2Utils.java
index 9720644..f7fcf4e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/erudika/para/persistence/H2Utils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/erudika/para/persistence/H2Utils.java
@@ -61,15 +61,15 @@ private H2Utils() { }
 	 */
 	static Connection getConnection() throws SQLException {
 		String host = Config.getConfigParam("db.hostname", "");
-		String serverPrefix = StringUtils.isBlank(host) ? "" : "tcp://" + host + "/";
-		String dir = Config.getConfigParam("db.dir", serverPrefix.isEmpty() ? "./data" : "data");
-		String url = "jdbc:h2:" + serverPrefix + dir + File.separator + Config.getRootAppIdentifier();
+		String tcpPrefix = StringUtils.isBlank(host) ? "" : "tcp://" + host + "/";
+		String dir = Config.getConfigParam("db.dir", "./data");
+		String url = "jdbc:h2:" + tcpPrefix + dir + File.separator + Config.getRootAppIdentifier();
 		String user = Config.getConfigParam("db.user", Config.getRootAppIdentifier());
 		String pass = Config.getConfigParam("db.password", "secret");
 		try {
 			if (server == null) {
 				org.h2.Driver.load();
-				String serverParams = Config.getConfigParam("db.tcpServer", "-baseDir " + dir);
+				String serverParams = Config.getConfigParam("db.tcpServer", tcpPrefix.isEmpty() ? "-baseDir " + dir : "");
 				String[] params = StringUtils.split(serverParams, ' ');
 				server = Server.createTcpServer(params);
 				server.start();