diff --git a/analytics b/analytics
index 4e0a2a5..53e392a 160000
--- a/analytics
+++ b/analytics
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 4e0a2a507415decb674bbbccd293d9786e6f117a
+Subproject commit 53e392a517bb5df8053c2271fe8db5740f725853
diff --git a/server/.env.example b/server/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25e09e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# (required) Grafana URL which can be queried from hastic-server host (e.g. http://localhost:3000),
+GRAFANA_URL=http://localhost:3000
+
+# (required) API-key of your Grafana instance
+# (e.g. eyJrIjoiVjZqMHY0dHk4UEE3eEN4MzgzRnd2aURlMWlIdXdHNW4iLCJuIjoiaGFzdGljIiwiaWQiOjF9),
+# see https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/http_api/auth/#create-api-token
+HASTIC_API_KEY=
+
+# (optional) websockets URL to connect to hastic-server from analytics
+HASTIC_SERVER_URL=ws://localhost:8002
+
+# (optional) port you want to run server on, default: 8000
+HASTIC_PORT=8000
+
+# (optional) use it if you want to get webhooks on detections (e.g. http://localhost:8080)
+HASTIC_WEBHOOK_URL=http://localhost:8080
+
+# (optional) type of alerts (detections) receiver (e.g. webhook or alertmanager)
+HASTIC_ALERT_TYPE=
+
+# (optional) URL to send alerts if ALERT_TYPE is alertmanager (e.g http://localhost:9093)
+HASTIC_ALERTMANAGER_URL=
+
+# (optional) Hastic instance name which is used in alerts
+HASTIC_INSTANCE_NAME=
+
+# (optional) whether to send a chart in the notification
+HASTIC_ALERT_IMAGE=
+
+# (optional) connection-string for MongoDB (not used with nedb), (e.g. hastic:password@mongodb.example.com:27017/hastic)
+HASTIC_DB_CONNECTION_STRING=
+
+# (optional) database type. Can have the following values: nedb, mongodb
+HASTIC_DB_CONNECTION_TYPE=
+
+# (optional) timezone offset in hours from utc (e.g -3:30)
+HASTIC_TIMEZONE_OFFSET=
diff --git a/server/package.json b/server/package.json
index dd4a73c..aeb3146 100644
--- a/server/package.json
+++ b/server/package.json
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
     "babel-polyfill": "^6.26.0",
     "babel-preset-env": "^1.7.0",
     "babel-preset-es2015": "^6.24.1",
+    "dotenv": "^8.2.0",
     "es6-promise": "^4.2.4",
     "event-stream": "3.3.4",
     "file-loader": "^1.1.11",
diff --git a/server/src/config.ts b/server/src/config.ts
index ec264e0..a6337e7 100644
--- a/server/src/config.ts
+++ b/server/src/config.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import * as path from 'path';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as os from 'os';
 import { exit } from 'process'; // it's very bad to use it in config, but life is full of pain
+import * as dotenv from 'dotenv';
+import { URL } from 'url';
 
 const EXIT_CODE_MISSING_FIELD = 3;
 const EXIT_CODE_BAD_VALUE_FIELD = 4;
@@ -18,6 +20,8 @@ declare const GIT_BRANCH: string;
 declare const GIT_COMMITHASH: string;
 declare const GIT_VERSION: string;
 
+dotenv.config();
+
 let configFile = path.join(__dirname, '../../config.json');
 let configExists = fs.existsSync(configFile);
 
@@ -81,7 +85,7 @@ export const INSIDE_DOCKER = process.env.INSIDE_DOCKER !== undefined;
 export const PRODUCTION_MODE = process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'development';
 
 // TODO: maybe rename it to "HASTIC_SERVER_ANALYTICS_URL"
-export const HASTIC_SERVER_URL = getConfigFieldAndPrintOrExit('HASTIC_SERVER_URL', 'ws://localhost:8002');
+export const HASTIC_SERVER_URL = getHasticServerUrl();
 export const HASTIC_INSTANCE_NAME = getConfigFieldAndPrintOrExit('HASTIC_INSTANCE_NAME', os.hostname());
 
 
@@ -158,3 +162,19 @@ function getTimeZoneOffset(): number {
     return serverUtcOffset;
   }
 }
+
+function getHasticServerUrl() {
+  const urlString = getConfigFieldAndPrintOrExit('HASTIC_SERVER_URL', 'ws://localhost:8002');
+
+  try {
+    const url = new URL(urlString);
+    if(url.protocol !== 'ws:') {
+      throw new Error(`Invalid protocol ${url.protocol}`);
+    }
+
+    return url;
+  } catch(e) {
+    console.log(`Invalid HASTIC_SERVER_URL, value must be url, got: ${urlString}`);
+    exit(EXIT_CODE_BAD_VALUE_FIELD);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/server/src/services/analytics_service.ts b/server/src/services/analytics_service.ts
index 031e216..5ca67eb 100644
--- a/server/src/services/analytics_service.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/analytics_service.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import * as childProcess from 'child_process'
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import * as _ from 'lodash';
+import { HASTIC_SERVER_URL } from '../config';
 
 
 export class AnalyticsService {
@@ -76,10 +77,10 @@ export class AnalyticsService {
   public get lastAlive(): Date { return this._lastAlive; }
 
   private async _init() {
-    this._socket_server = new WebSocket.Server({ port: 8002 });
+    this._socket_server = new WebSocket.Server({ host: HASTIC_SERVER_URL.hostname, port: +HASTIC_SERVER_URL.port });
 
     // TODO: move this to config OR use existing http server
-    console.log("Creating websocket server ... %s", 'ws://localhost:8002');
+    console.log("Creating websocket server ... %s", HASTIC_SERVER_URL.origin);
 
     this._socket_server.on("connection", this._onNewConnection.bind(this));
     // TODO: handle connection drop
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ export class AnalyticsService {
       cwd: config.ANALYTICS_PATH,
       env: {
         ...process.env,
-        HASTIC_SERVER_URL: config.HASTIC_SERVER_URL
+        HASTIC_SERVER_URL: config.HASTIC_SERVER_URL.origin
       }
     };