diff --git a/src/exporter.go b/src/exporter.go
index 93cdec5..5d568c3 100644
--- a/src/exporter.go
+++ b/src/exporter.go
@@ -64,21 +64,29 @@ type Exporter struct {
 }
 
 func (e *Exporter) Describe(ch chan<- *prometheus.Desc) {
-	ch <- metricUp
-	ch <- metricBadIpsPerJail
-	ch <- metricBannedIpsPerJail
-	ch <- metricEnabledJails
-	ch <- metricErrorCount
-	ch <- metricServerPing
+	if e.db != nil {
+		ch <- metricUp
+		ch <- metricBadIpsPerJail
+		ch <- metricBannedIpsPerJail
+		ch <- metricEnabledJails
+		ch <- metricErrorCount
+	}
+	if e.socket != nil {
+		ch <- metricServerPing
+	}
 }
 
 func (e *Exporter) Collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
-	e.collectBadIpsPerJailMetrics(ch)
-	e.collectBannedIpsPerJailMetrics(ch)
-	e.collectEnabledJailMetrics(ch)
-	e.collectUpMetric(ch)
-	e.collectErrorCountMetric(ch)
-	e.collectServerPingMetric(ch)
+	if e.db != nil {
+		e.collectBadIpsPerJailMetrics(ch)
+		e.collectBannedIpsPerJailMetrics(ch)
+		e.collectEnabledJailMetrics(ch)
+		e.collectUpMetric(ch)
+		e.collectErrorCountMetric(ch)
+	}
+	if e.socket != nil {
+		e.collectServerPingMetric(ch)
+	}
 }
 
 func (e *Exporter) collectUpMetric(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
@@ -168,9 +176,12 @@ func main() {
 	} else {
 		log.Print("starting fail2ban exporter")
 
-		exporter := &Exporter{
-			db:     fail2banDb.MustConnectToDb(appSettings.Fail2BanDbPath),
-			socket: socket.MustConnectToSocket(appSettings.Fail2BanSocketPath),
+		exporter := &Exporter{}
+		if appSettings.Fail2BanDbPath != "" {
+			exporter.db = fail2banDb.MustConnectToDb(appSettings.Fail2BanDbPath)
+		}
+		if appSettings.Fail2BanSocketPath != "" {
+			exporter.socket = socket.MustConnectToSocket(appSettings.Fail2BanSocketPath)
 		}
 		prometheus.MustRegister(exporter)