diff --git a/cloudbank/backend-springboot/environment.sh b/cloudbank/backend-springboot/environment.sh
index 65fd72e..8232b43 100644
--- a/cloudbank/backend-springboot/environment.sh
+++ b/cloudbank/backend-springboot/environment.sh
@@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ export localbankqueuename="BANKAQUEUE"
 export localbankqueueschema="aquser"
 export banksubscribername="banka_service"
 export bankdbuser="bankauser"
-export bankdburl="jdbc:oracle:thin:@//$(kubectl get singleinstancedatabase cbtransfer01 -o jsonpath='{.status.pdbConnectString}')"
+export bankdburl="jdbc:oracle:thin:@//$(kubectl -n cloudbank get singleinstancedatabase cbtransfer01 -o jsonpath='{.status.pdbConnectString}')"
 export bankdbpw="$(state_get .lab.fixed_demo_user_credential)"
diff --git a/cloudbank/backend-springboot/src/main/java/com/cloudbank/springboot/transfers/TransferController.java b/cloudbank/backend-springboot/src/main/java/com/cloudbank/springboot/transfers/TransferController.java
index 5beae36..288d8f8 100644
--- a/cloudbank/backend-springboot/src/main/java/com/cloudbank/springboot/transfers/TransferController.java
+++ b/cloudbank/backend-springboot/src/main/java/com/cloudbank/springboot/transfers/TransferController.java
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ public class TransferController {
     final String bankdbuser =   System.getenv("bankdbuser");
     final String bankdbpw =  System.getenv("bankdbpw");
     final String bankdburl =   System.getenv("bankdburl");
-    // bankdburl example: "jdbc:oracle:thin:@//<ip_address>:1521/XEPDB1";
+    // bankdburl example: "jdbc:oracle:thin:@//<ip_address>:1521/FREEPDB1";
 
     //transfer id is currently just the currentTimeMillis and not persisted
     private Map<String, TransferInformation> transferLedger = new HashMap<>();
diff --git a/cloudbank/kubernetes/sidb-create-template.yaml b/cloudbank/kubernetes/sidb-create-template.yaml
index 94f8dae..b653724 100644
--- a/cloudbank/kubernetes/sidb-create-template.yaml
+++ b/cloudbank/kubernetes/sidb-create-template.yaml
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ metadata:
 spec:
 
   ## DB edition
-  edition: express
+  edition: free
+  ## Use only alphanumeric characters for sid
+  sid: FREE
 
   ## Secret containing SIDB password mapped to secretKey
   adminPassword:
@@ -14,15 +16,15 @@ spec:
 
   ## Database Image
   image:
-    pullFrom: container-registry.oracle.com/database/express:latest
-    prebuiltDB: true
+    pullFrom: container-registry.oracle.com/database/free:latest
+    prebuiltDB: false
 
   ## Persistence is optional for prebuilt DB image
   ## if specified, the prebuilt DB datafiles are copied over to the persistant volume before DB startup
-  #persistence:
-  #  size: 50Gi
-  #  storageClass: "oci-bv"
-  #  accessMode: "ReadWriteOnce"
+  persistence:
+   size: 50Gi
+   storageClass: "oci-bv"
+   accessMode: "ReadWriteOnce"
 
   ## Count of Database Pods.
   replicas: 1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cloudbank/sql/configure-sidb.sh b/cloudbank/sql/configure-sidb.sh
index 1dc4dfc..cb7d4b0 100755
--- a/cloudbank/sql/configure-sidb.sh
+++ b/cloudbank/sql/configure-sidb.sh
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 
 database=$1
 password=$2
-connection='XEPDB1'
+connection='FREEPDB1'
 
 {
-  echo "alter session set container=XEPDB1;"
+  echo "alter session set container=FREEPDB1;"
   echo "connect sys/$password@$connection as sysdba"
   cat AdminCreateUsers-SIDBXE.sql
   echo "conn aquser/$password@$connection"