diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e4ee1991ea606d0d88aee5bcd2b240fb4e51f57e..c9fc18824ac6e1641ff8997167666b5ee2e6a023 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Added ###
 
-* Entity State support (experimental). See the `caosdb.State` class for more
-  information.
+* Entity State support (experimental, no StateModel support yet). See the `caosdb.State` class for
+  more information.
 * Versioning support (experimental).
 
 ### Changed ###
diff --git a/src/caosdb/common/administration.py b/src/caosdb/common/administration.py
index 7997088a102e86cbf2daeb42a996a1b6ae57f446..e2846ef14d481ec938dd401289f8f0bbbfdc1d06 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/common/administration.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/common/administration.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ from lxml import etree
 from caosdb.common.utils import xml2str
 from caosdb.connection.connection import get_connection
 from caosdb.exceptions import (AuthorizationException, ClientErrorException,
-                               EntityDoesNotExistError)
+                               EntityDoesNotExistError, ServerConfigurationException)
 
 
 def set_server_property(key, value):
@@ -52,9 +52,11 @@ def set_server_property(key, value):
     None
     """
     con = get_connection()
-
-    con._form_data_request(method="POST", path="_server_properties",
-                           params={key: value}).read()
+    try:
+        con._form_data_request(method="POST", path="_server_properties",
+                               params={key: value}).read()
+    except EntityDoesNotExistError:
+        raise ServerConfigurationException("Debug mode in server is probably disabled.") from None
 
 
 def get_server_properties():
@@ -68,7 +70,11 @@ def get_server_properties():
         The server properties.
     """
     con = get_connection()
-    body = con._http_request(method="GET", path="_server_properties").response
+    try:
+        body = con._http_request(method="GET", path="_server_properties").response
+    except EntityDoesNotExistError:
+        raise ServerConfigurationException("Debug mode in server is probably disabled.") from None
+
     xml = etree.parse(body)
     props = dict()
 
diff --git a/src/caosdb/common/state.py b/src/caosdb/common/state.py
index de16c1ec5a64f093f5723b4db368f2de4b624e77..cb74022bef57a77c8270b2033c904eecabaadf83 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/common/state.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/common/state.py
@@ -1,3 +1,24 @@
+# ** header v3.0
+# This file is a part of the CaosDB Project.
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2020 IndiScale GmbH <info@indiscale.com>
+# Copyright (C) 2020 Timm Fitschen <t.fitschen@indiscale.com>
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+# License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+# ** end header
+
 import copy
 from lxml import etree
 
diff --git a/src/caosdb/exceptions.py b/src/caosdb/exceptions.py
index 5763bef4ac805a7dd1dfde8da2f6f3b7e5fd4bd8..c406ad9624f353a400a375314f5ce9bbbb8fe804 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/exceptions.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/exceptions.py
@@ -60,6 +60,13 @@ class ConfigurationException(CaosDBException):
              ".pycaosdb.ini. Do at least one of them exist and are they correct?")
 
 
+class ServerConfigurationException(CaosDBException):
+    """The server is configured in a different way than expected.
+
+    This can be for example unexpected flags or settings or missing extensions.
+    """
+
+
 class ClientErrorException(CaosDBException):
     def __init__(self, msg, status, body):
         self.status = status