diff --git a/src/storage/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.ts b/src/storage/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.ts
index 9e2acf22..50c4ea67 100644
--- a/src/storage/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.ts
+++ b/src/storage/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.ts
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ export class Elasticsearch implements Database {
   public async bulkUpdated(bulk: Bulk): Promise<void> {
     // if our es instance is not ready yet, we cannot serve this request
     if (!this.ready) {
-      throw new Error('Elasticsearch not ready');
+      throw new Error('No connection to elasticsearch established yet.');
     }
 
     // index name for elasticsearch
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ export class Elasticsearch implements Database {
         throw new Error('Monitoring is defined, but MailQueue is undefined. A MailQueue is obligatory for monitoring.');
       }
       // read all watches and schedule searches on the client
-      Monitoring.setUp(monitoringConfiguration, this.client, this.mailQueue);
+      await Monitoring.setUp(monitoringConfiguration, this.client, this.mailQueue);
     }
 
     return this.getAliasMap();
@@ -548,16 +548,10 @@ export class Elasticsearch implements Database {
       throw new Error('Database is undefined. You have to configure the query build');
     }
 
-    // check if the database version is defined and in the expected format
-    if (typeof this.config.internal.database.version === 'undefined'
-      || typeof this.config.internal.database.version !== 'string') {
-      throw new Error('Database version is malformed. Check your config file');
-    }
-
     // create elasticsearch configuration out of data from database configuration
     const esConfig: ElasticsearchConfig = {
       name: this.config.internal.database.name as 'elasticsearch',
-      version: this.config.internal.database.version,
+      version: this.config.internal.database.version as string,
     };
 
     if (typeof this.config.internal.database.query !== 'undefined') {