diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f3d74a9..9b4d590 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 *.pyc
 *~
+*venv
+.idea
diff --git a/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/test_ebs.py b/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/test_ebs.py
index 93e9836..09229b0 100644
--- a/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/test_ebs.py
+++ b/cinder/tests/unit/volume/drivers/test_ebs.py
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ from cinder import context
 from cinder import test
 from cinder.exception import APITimeout, NotFound, VolumeNotFound
 from cinder.volume.drivers.aws import ebs
+from cinder.volume.drivers.aws.exception import AvailabilityZoneNotFound
 from moto import mock_ec2
 
-import boto
 
 class EBSVolumeTestCase(test.TestCase):
 
@@ -61,6 +61,14 @@ class EBSVolumeTestCase(test.TestCase):
         ss['display_name'] = kwargs.get('display_name', 'snapshot_007')
         return ss
 
+    @mock_ec2
+    def test_availability_zone_config(self):
+        ebs.CONF.AWS.az = 'hgkjhgkd'
+        driver = ebs.EBSDriver()
+        ctxt = context.get_admin_context()
+        self.assertRaises(AvailabilityZoneNotFound, driver.do_setup, ctxt)
+        ebs.CONF.AWS.az = 'us-east-1a'
+
     @mock_ec2
     def test_volume_create_success(self):
         self.assertIsNone(self._driver.create_volume(self._stub_volume()))
@@ -129,4 +137,4 @@ class EBSVolumeTestCase(test.TestCase):
     @mock_ec2
     def test_volume_from_non_existing_snapshot(self):
         self.assertRaises(NotFound, self._driver.create_volume_from_snapshot,
-                          self._stub_volume(), self._stub_snapshot())
\ No newline at end of file
+                          self._stub_volume(), self._stub_snapshot())
diff --git a/cinder/volume/drivers/aws/ebs.py b/cinder/volume/drivers/aws/ebs.py
index 7fecacb..5079dd4 100644
--- a/cinder/volume/drivers/aws/ebs.py
+++ b/cinder/volume/drivers/aws/ebs.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from cinder.i18n import _LE
 from cinder.exception import VolumeNotFound, NotFound, APITimeout, InvalidConfigurationValue
 from cinder.volume.driver import BaseVD
 
+from exception import AvailabilityZoneNotFound
 
 aws_group = cfg.OptGroup(name='AWS', title='Options to connect to an AWS environment')
 aws_opts = [
@@ -56,19 +57,6 @@ class EBSDriver(BaseVD):
         self.VERSION = '1.0.0'
         self._wait_time_sec = 60 * (CONF.AWS.wait_time_min)
 
-        self._check_config()
-        region_name = CONF.AWS.region_name
-        endpoint = '.'.join(['ec2', region_name, 'amazonaws.com'])
-        region = RegionInfo(name=region_name, endpoint=endpoint)
-        self._conn = ec2.EC2Connection(aws_access_key_id=CONF.AWS.access_key,
-                                       aws_secret_access_key=CONF.AWS.secret_key,
-                                       region=region)
-        # resort to first AZ for now. TODO: expose this through API
-        az = CONF.AWS.az
-        self._zone = filter(lambda z: z.name == az,
-                            self._conn.get_all_zones())[0]
-        self.set_initialized()
-
     def _check_config(self):
         tbl = dict([(n, eval(n)) for n in ['CONF.AWS.access_key',
                                            'CONF.AWS.secret_key',
@@ -79,7 +67,24 @@ class EBSDriver(BaseVD):
                 raise InvalidConfigurationValue(value=None, option=k)
 
     def do_setup(self, context):
-        pass
+        self._check_config()
+        region_name = CONF.AWS.region_name
+        endpoint = '.'.join(['ec2', region_name, 'amazonaws.com'])
+        region = RegionInfo(name=region_name, endpoint=endpoint)
+        self._conn = ec2.EC2Connection(aws_access_key_id=CONF.AWS.access_key,
+                                       aws_secret_access_key=CONF.AWS.secret_key,
+                                       region=region)
+        # resort to first AZ for now. TODO: expose this through API
+        az = CONF.AWS.az
+
+        try:
+            self._zone = filter(lambda z: z.name == az,
+                            self._conn.get_all_zones())[0]
+        except IndexError:
+            raise AvailabilityZoneNotFound(az=az)
+
+        self.set_initialized()
+
 
     def _wait_for_create(self, id, final_state):
         def _wait_for_status(start_time):
diff --git a/cinder/volume/drivers/aws/exception.py b/cinder/volume/drivers/aws/exception.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9bbce9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cinder/volume/drivers/aws/exception.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+"""
+Copyright 2017 Platform9 Systems Inc.(http://www.platform9.com)
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+"""
+
+from cinder.exception import CinderException
+from cinder.i18n import _
+
+class AvailabilityZoneNotFound(CinderException):
+    message = _("Availability Zone %(az)s was not found")