diff --git a/scripts/setup/create-database b/scripts/setup/initialize-database
similarity index 59%
rename from scripts/setup/create-database
rename to scripts/setup/initialize-database
index 17c7d6f1a0..bd6ec0dfb0 100755
--- a/scripts/setup/create-database
+++ b/scripts/setup/initialize-database
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
-#!/bin/sh -xe
+#!/bin/bash -xe
+
+# Change to root directory of the checkout that we're running from
+cd $(dirname $0)/../..
 
 echo "DROP SCHEMA zulip CASCADE; CREATE SCHEMA zulip;" | python manage.py dbshell
 
+python manage.py checkconfig
+
 python manage.py syncdb --noinput
 python manage.py migrate
 python manage.py createcachetable third_party_api_results
 python manage.py initialize_enterprise_db
+
+supervisorctl restart all
diff --git a/scripts/setup/install b/scripts/setup/install
index 1fffeed891..27f20a9f31 100755
--- a/scripts/setup/install
+++ b/scripts/setup/install
@@ -43,16 +43,19 @@ ln -nsf /etc/zulip/settings.py /root/zulip/zproject/local_settings.py
 deploy_path=$($(dirname $(dirname $0))/unpack-zulip "$tarball")
 ln -nsf "$deploy_path" /home/zulip/deployments/current
 chown -R zulip:zulip /home/zulip/deployments /var/log/zulip
+chown zulip:zulip /var/run/supervisor.sock
 
 cd /home/zulip/deployments/current
-su zulip -c /home/zulip/deployments/current/scripts/setup/create-database
-
-chown zulip:zulip /var/run/supervisor.sock
-supervisorctl restart all
 
 set +x
 cat <<EOF
 
- Done.
+ Installation complete!
+
+ Now edit /etc/zulip/settings.py and fill in the mandatory values.
+
+ Once you've done that, please run:
+
+ su zulip -c /home/zulip/deployments/current/scripts/setup/initialize-database
 
 EOF
diff --git a/zerver/management/commands/checkconfig.py b/zerver/management/commands/checkconfig.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..948150ee53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zerver/management/commands/checkconfig.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from __future__ import absolute_import
+
+from optparse import make_option
+
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+from django.conf import settings
+import sys
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    help = """Checks your Zulip Enterprise Django configuration for issues."""
+
+    option_list = BaseCommand.option_list + ()
+    def handle(self, **options):
+        for (setting_name, default) in settings.REQUIRED_SETTINGS:
+            try:
+                if settings.__getattr__(setting_name) != default:
+                    continue
+            except AttributeError:
+                pass
+
+            print "Error: You must set %s in /etc/zulip/settings.py." % (setting_name,)
+            sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/zproject/settings.py b/zproject/settings.py
index b54aef0d1c..82b30424bc 100644
--- a/zproject/settings.py
+++ b/zproject/settings.py
@@ -270,6 +270,21 @@ for setting_name, setting_val in DEFAULT_SETTINGS.iteritems():
     if not setting_name in vars():
         vars()[setting_name] = setting_val
 
+# These are the settings that manage.py checkconfig will check that
+# user has filled in before starting the app.  It consists of a series
+# of pairs of (setting name, default value that it must be changed from)
+REQUIRED_SETTINGS = [("EXTERNAL_HOST", ""),
+                     ("ZULIP_ADMINISTRATOR", ""),
+                     ("ADMIN_DOMAIN", ""),
+                     ("DEPLOYMENT_ROLE_NAME", ""),
+                     ("DEPLOYMENT_ROLE_KEY", ""),
+                     # SECRET_KEY doesn't really need to be here, in
+                     # that we set it automatically, but just in
+                     # case, it seems worth having in this list
+                     ("SECRET_KEY", ""),
+                     ("AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS", ()),
+                     ]
+
 REALM_BOTS = [ {'var_name': 'NOTIFICATION_BOT',
                 'email_template': 'notification-bot@%s',
                 'name': 'Notification Bot'},