diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3692af9..729fe08 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,15 +23,12 @@ BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000 ./run.sh
 
 Then point your browser at the URL below to  install license and configuation for each applicaiton:
 
-| JIRA      | BASE_URL/jira     |
-| Stash     | BASE_URL/stash    |
-| Fisheye   | BASE_URL/fisheye  |
-| Bamboo    | BASE_URL/bamboo   |
+| Application   |  URL                |
+|---------------|---------------------|
+|  JIRA         | BASE_URL/jira       |
+|  Stash        | BASE_URL/stash      |
+| Fisheye       | BASE_URL/fisheye    |
+| Bamboo        | BASE_URL/bamboo     |
 
 
-### TO DO
-1. add initdb to one line provision.
-2. format this document properly
-3. add docker status check so that docker stop/rm does not throw error messages
-
 
diff --git a/atl-postgres/Dockerfile b/atl-postgres/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1b0108
--- /dev/null
+++ b/atl-postgres/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+FROM postgres:9.3
+MAINTAINER Li Lin <guru.lin@gmail..com>
+
+RUN mkdir -p /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
+ADD atl-dbinit.sh /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
+
+
diff --git a/atl-postgres/atl-dbinit.sh b/atl-postgres/atl-dbinit.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..01f0ee2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/atl-postgres/atl-dbinit.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+DB_USER=$postgres
+
+create_db_if_not_exist() {
+
+    ( psql -l -U $DB_USER | grep $1 ) || \
+        echo " CREATE DATABASE $1 WITH ENCODING='UTF8' TEMPLATE=template0; " | psql -U $DB_USER 
+}
+
+create_db_if_not_exist jira
+create_db_if_not_exist stash
+create_db_if_not_exist fisheye
+create_db_if_not_exist bamboo
+
+
diff --git a/atl-postgres/build.sh b/atl-postgres/build.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b05719b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/atl-postgres/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+TAG="sloppycoder/atl-postgres"
+docker build --rm --tag ${TAG}:latest .
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 3d66e0b..148e64c 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ cd atl-bamboo
 ./build.sh
 cd ..
 
+cd atl-postgres
+./build.sh
+cd ..
+
+
 cd atl-web
 ./build.sh
 cd ..
diff --git a/dbinit.sh b/dbinit.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 251f69b..0000000
--- a/dbinit.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-echo "
-DROP DATABASE jira;
-DROP DATABASE stash;
-DROP DATABASE fisheye;
-DROP DATABASE bamboo;
-CREATE DATABASE jira WITH ENCODING='UTF8' TEMPLATE=template0;
-CREATE DATABASE stash WITH ENCODING='UTF8' TEMPLATE=template0; 
-CREATE DATABASE fisheye WITH ENCODING='UTF8' TEMPLATE=template0;  
-CREATE DATABASE bamboo WITH ENCODING='UTF8' TEMPLATE=template0;  " \
-  | PGPASSWORD="password" psql -h db -p 5432 -d postgres -U postgres -w
-
diff --git a/run.sh b/run.sh
index 8fd7cc4..3a08f72 100755
--- a/run.sh
+++ b/run.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #! /bin/bash
 
+DOCKER_HUB_USER=sloppycoder
+
 usage() {
 
 echo "
@@ -17,13 +19,11 @@ echo "
 
     run.sh  web            # restart web server 
 
-    run.sh  db             # start db server
-
-    run.sh  dbshell        # launch a shell into db server
+    run.sh  db             # stop and remove db container, then start a new one
 
-    run.sh  initdb         # drop and recreate database used by applications
+    run.sh  dbsh           # launch a shell into db server
 
-    run.sh  data           # start an interactive container for examine the shared data volumes
+    run.sh  datash         # start an interactive container for examine the shared data volumes
 
     run.sh  backup <dir>   # backup all data inside data container into <dir>/atldata.tar.gz
 
@@ -33,6 +33,24 @@ echo "
 
 }
 
+
+is_container_running() {
+
+    if [ "`docker inspect -f '{{ .State.Running }}' $1 `" = "true" ]; then
+        return 1
+    else
+        return 0
+    fi
+}
+
+
+stop_and_rm_container() {
+
+    is_container_running $1 && docker stop $1
+    (docker ps -a | grep $1) || docker rm $1
+}
+
+
 start_app() {
 
     if [ "$2" = "-i" ]; then
@@ -41,61 +59,49 @@ start_app() {
         RUN_MODE="-d"
     fi
 
+    # start data container if it does not exist
+    (docker ps -a | grep atldata) && start_data
+
     docker run $RUN_MODE --name $1 --link postgres:db \
         --volumes-from="atldata" -e BASE_URL=$BASE_URL \
-        sloppycoder/atl-$1 $3
+        ${DOCKER_HUB_USER}/atl-$1 $3
 }
 
+
 start_db() {
 
-    docker stop postgres
-    docker rm postgres
+    stop_and_rm_container postgres
     docker run -d --name postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password \
-        --volumes-from="atldata" postgres:9.3
+        --volumes-from="atldata" ${DOCKER_HUB_USER}/atl-postgres
 }
 
-init_db() {
-
-    cat dbinit.sh | docker run --rm -i --link postgres:db postgres:9.3 bash -
-}
 
 start_data() {
-
-    docker run --name atldata \
-        -v /opt/atlassian-home \
-        -v /var/lib/postgresql/data \
-        centos:7 /bin/bash
+    (docker ps -a | grep atldata) && \
+        docker run --name atldata \
+            -v /opt/atlassian-home \
+            -v /var/lib/postgresql/data \
+            centos:7 echo "data container atldata started"
 }
 
-start_web() {
-
-    docker stop atlweb
-    docker rm atlweb
-
-    if [ "`docker inspect -f '{{ .State.Running }}' jira`" = "true" ]; then
-       LINKS="$LINKS --link jira:jira"
-    fi
 
-    if [ "`docker inspect -f '{{ .State.Running }}' fisheye`" = "true" ]; then
-       LINKS="$LINKS --link fisheye:fisheye"
-    fi
-
-    if [ "`docker inspect -f '{{ .State.Running }}' stash`" = "true" ]; then
-       LINKS="$LINKS --link stash:stash"
-    fi
+start_web() {
 
-    if [ "`docker inspect -f '{{ .State.Running }}' bamboo`" = "true" ]; then
-       LINKS="$LINKS --link bamboo:bamboo"
-    fi
+    is_container_running jira && LINKS="$LINKS --link jira:jira"
+    is_container_running stash && LINKS="$LINKS --link stash:stash"
+    is_container_running fisheye && LINKS="$LINKS --link fisheye:fisheye"
+    is_container_running bamboo && LINKS="$LINKS --link bamboo:bamboo"
 
     echo starting httpd with links $LINKS
+    stop_and_rm_container atlweb
     docker run -d --name atlweb -p 80:80 -p 443:443 \
        $LINKS \
-       sloppycoder/atl-web
+       ${DOCKER_HUB_USER}/atl-web
 
     test -z "$LINKS" && echo httpd started but no application running.
 }
 
+
     
 ACTION=$1
 test -z "$ACTION" && ACTION=all
@@ -104,9 +110,15 @@ case "$ACTION" in
 
     all)
         echo
+        echo use 
+        echo      run.sh -h
+        echo 
+        echo to see other options available in this command
+        echo 
         echo
         echo starting all docker containers for Atlassian Jira, Stash, Fisheye and Bamboo
-        echo all images will be downloaded from docker hub for the first time, this will take a while
+        echo all images will be downloaded from docker hub for the first time, this will take a while.
+        echo 
         echo hit ctrl-C to abort ...
         echo
         sleep 2
@@ -127,47 +139,63 @@ case "$ACTION" in
     ;;
 
     jira|stash|fisheye|bamboo)
-        docker stop $1
-        docker rm $1
+        
+        stop_and_rm_container $1
         start_app $1 $2 $3 $4
-        if [ -z "$2" ]; then
-            start_web
-        fi
+        test -z "$2" && start_web
     ;;
 
     web)
+        
         start_web        
+
     ;;
 
     db)
+        
         start_db        
+
     ;;
 
     initdb)
+        
         init_db        
+
     ;;
 
-    dbshell)
+    dbsh)
+
         docker exec -it postgres /bin/bash
+
     ;;
 
-    data)
+    datash)
+
         docker run -it --rm --volumes-from="atldata" centos:7 /bin/bash
+
     ;;
 
     backup)
+
         BACKUP_DIR=$(readlink -f $2)
-        docker run -it --rm --volumes-from atldata -v $BACKUP_DIR:/backup  sloppycoder/java-base  \
+        echo backing up all data in atldata to $BACKUP_DIR
+
+        docker run -it --rm --volumes-from atldata -v $BACKUP_DIR:/backup  ${DOCKER_HUB_USER}/java-base  \
               tar czvf /backup/atldata.tar.gz \
                    /opt/atlassian-home /var/lib/postgresql/data 
+
     ;;
 
     clean)
+
         docker rmi $(docker images | grep "^<none>" | awk ' {print $3} ')
+
     ;;
 
     *)
+
         usage
+
     ;;
 
 esac