diff --git a/lib/SLUB/LZA/TA/Archivematica/Elasticsearch.pm b/lib/SLUB/LZA/TA/Archivematica/Elasticsearch.pm
index a13ba3813d88801d278d677de94ea8d491b96d72..b807d00f38f68fccd98a2a954642053e212db072 100644
--- a/lib/SLUB/LZA/TA/Archivematica/Elasticsearch.pm
+++ b/lib/SLUB/LZA/TA/Archivematica/Elasticsearch.pm
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ our @EXPORT_OK = qw();
 #$Search::Elasticsearch::Error::DEBUG=2;
 
 sub _instantiate($protocol, $host, $port) {
+    die "No host configuration found, missed config-file or command line parameter?\nHint: check '$0' help init'\n" unless defined $host;
     return Search::Elasticsearch->new(
         nodes    => "$protocol://$host:$port",
         #trace_to => 'Stderr',