diff --git a/templates/simple-object-storage/install.sh b/templates/simple-object-storage/install.sh
index 00e2fcf..760bc04 100644
--- a/templates/simple-object-storage/install.sh
+++ b/templates/simple-object-storage/install.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 source "$(dirname "$0")/_common.sh"
 
 # Required environment variables
-check_required_env_vars "CONTAINER_NAME" "IMAGE_REGISTRY" "IMAGE_REPO" "IMAGE_TAG" "VOLUME_NAME" "HOST_NAME" "HOST_PORT"
+check_required_env_vars "CONTAINER_NAME" "IMAGE_REGISTRY" "IMAGE_REPO" "IMAGE_TAG" "VOLUME_NAME" "HOST_NAME"
 
 # Create volume if it doesn't exist
 if ! docker volume inspect "${VOLUME_NAME}" &>/dev/null; then
@@ -32,4 +32,12 @@ _remove_container $CONTAINER_NAME || die "Failed to remove container ${CONTAINER
 bash ./start.sh || die "Failed to start container ${CONTAINER_NAME}"
 
 echo "Installation of ${CONTAINER_NAME} complete"
-echo "You can access the service at http://${HOST_NAME}:${HOST_PORT}"
+
+
+# determine port.
+command -v jq &> /dev/null || die "jq could not be found, please install it"
+[ -f "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json" ] || die "sos_config.json does not exist"
+PORT=$(jq -r '.port' "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json")
+
+
+echo "You can access the service at http://${HOST_NAME}:${PORT}"
diff --git a/templates/simple-object-storage/ports.sh b/templates/simple-object-storage/ports.sh
index 8250a3c..6eaf762 100644
--- a/templates/simple-object-storage/ports.sh
+++ b/templates/simple-object-storage/ports.sh
@@ -8,19 +8,12 @@
 source "$(dirname "$0")/_common.sh"
 
 # Required environment variables
-# check_required_env_vars "HOST_PORT" 
+check_required_env_vars "CONFIG_PATH"
 
-# check if jq is installed
-if ! command -v jq &> /dev/null; then
-    die "jq could not be found, please install it"
-fi
-
-# check if sos_config.json exists
-if [ ! -f "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json" ]; then
-    die "sos_config.json does not exist"
-fi
-
-# extract port from sos_config.json
+# determine port.
+command -v jq &> /dev/null || die "jq could not be found, please install it"
+[ -f "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json" ] || die "sos_config.json does not exist"
 PORT=$(jq -r '.port' "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json")
+
 echo $PORT
 
diff --git a/templates/simple-object-storage/restore.sh b/templates/simple-object-storage/restore.sh
index 1c6c4b8..4d82373 100644
--- a/templates/simple-object-storage/restore.sh
+++ b/templates/simple-object-storage/restore.sh
@@ -43,4 +43,4 @@ docker run --rm \
 # reinstall service - ensure everything is latest.
 bash ./install.sh || die "Failed to reinstall service after restore"
 
-echo "Restore complete! Service is running again on port $HOST_PORT with restored content."
+echo "Restore complete! Service is running again."
diff --git a/templates/simple-object-storage/start.sh b/templates/simple-object-storage/start.sh
index 9f5df67..5722d66 100644
--- a/templates/simple-object-storage/start.sh
+++ b/templates/simple-object-storage/start.sh
@@ -6,18 +6,23 @@
 # It is called with the path to the server specific env file as an argument.
 
 source "$(dirname "$0")/_common.sh"
-check_required_env_vars "CONTAINER_NAME" "HOST_PORT" "VOLUME_NAME" "WRITE_TOKENS" "CONFIG_PATH"
+check_required_env_vars "CONTAINER_NAME" "VOLUME_NAME" "CONFIG_PATH"
 
 # check volume exists.
 if ! docker volume inspect "${VOLUME_NAME}" &>/dev/null; then
     die "Docker volume ${VOLUME_NAME} does not exist"
 fi
 
+# determine port.
+command -v jq &> /dev/null || die "jq could not be found, please install it"
+[ -f "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json" ] || die "sos_config.json does not exist"
+PORT=$(jq -r '.port' "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json")
+
 
 DOCKER_RUN_CMD="docker run -d \
                 --restart unless-stopped \
                 --name ${CONTAINER_NAME} \
-                -p ${HOST_PORT}:80 \
+                -p ${PORT}:${PORT} \
                 -v ${VOLUME_NAME}:/data/storage \
                 -v ${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json:/data/sos_config.json:ro \
                 ${IMAGE_REGISTRY}/${IMAGE_REPO}:${IMAGE_TAG}"
diff --git a/templates/simple-object-storage/status.sh b/templates/simple-object-storage/status.sh
index 5018f97..fb13ad8 100644
--- a/templates/simple-object-storage/status.sh
+++ b/templates/simple-object-storage/status.sh
@@ -13,8 +13,13 @@ check_required_env_vars "CONTAINER_NAME"
 # check if the service is running
 _is_container_running $CONTAINER_NAME || die "Service is not running - did not find container $CONTAINER_NAME."
 
+# determine port.
+command -v jq &> /dev/null || die "jq could not be found, please install it"
+[ -f "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json" ] || die "sos_config.json does not exist"
+PORT=$(jq -r '.port' "${CONFIG_PATH}/sos_config.json")
+
 # check if the service is healthy
-curl -s -X GET http://localhost:${HOST_PORT}/status | jq -e '.result == "success"' \
+curl -s -X GET http://localhost:${PORT}/status | jq -e '.result == "success"' \
      || die "Service is not healthy - did not get OK response from /status endpoint."
 
 echo "Service is healthy"