diff --git a/db/sequence_allocator.go b/db/sequence_allocator.go
index 6fd06d6e0c..84c50d363d 100644
--- a/db/sequence_allocator.go
+++ b/db/sequence_allocator.go
@@ -71,11 +71,14 @@ func newSequenceAllocator(ctx context.Context, datastore base.DataStore, dbStats
 
 	// The reserveNotify channel manages communication between the releaseSequenceMonitor goroutine and _reserveSequenceRange invocations.
 	s.reserveNotify = make(chan struct{}, 1)
+	_, err := s.lastSequence(ctx) // just reads latest sequence from bucket
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	go func() {
 		defer base.FatalPanicHandler()
 		s.releaseSequenceMonitor(ctx)
 	}()
-	_, err := s.lastSequence(ctx) // just reads latest sequence from bucket
 	return s, err
 }
 
@@ -152,7 +155,7 @@ func (s *sequenceAllocator) lastSequence(ctx context.Context) (uint64, error) {
 	s.dbStats.SequenceGetCount.Add(1)
 	last, err := s.getSequence()
 	if err != nil {
-		base.WarnfCtx(ctx, "Error from Get in getSequence(): %v", err)
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("Couldn't get sequence from bucket: %w", err)
 	}
 	return last, err
 }
diff --git a/rest/admin_api.go b/rest/admin_api.go
index cce0244b35..3a86883005 100644
--- a/rest/admin_api.go
+++ b/rest/admin_api.go
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleCreateDB() error {
 			if errors.Is(err, base.ErrAuthError) {
 				return base.HTTPErrorf(http.StatusForbidden, "auth failure using provided bucket credentials for database %s", base.MD(config.Name))
 			}
-			return err
+			return base.HTTPErrorf(http.StatusInternalServerError, "couldn't load database: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/rest/server_context.go b/rest/server_context.go
index c2195ba6f8..cba8bb4b67 100644
--- a/rest/server_context.go
+++ b/rest/server_context.go
@@ -479,7 +479,9 @@ func GetBucketSpec(ctx context.Context, config *DatabaseConfig, serverConfig *St
 // lock to see if it's already been added by another process. If so, returns either the
 // existing DatabaseContext or an error based on the useExisting flag.
 // Pass in a bucketFromBucketSpecFn to replace the default ConnectToBucket function. This will cause the failFast argument to be ignored
-func (sc *ServerContext) _getOrAddDatabaseFromConfig(ctx context.Context, config DatabaseConfig, options getOrAddDatabaseConfigOptions) (*db.DatabaseContext, error) {
+func (sc *ServerContext) _getOrAddDatabaseFromConfig(ctx context.Context, config DatabaseConfig, options getOrAddDatabaseConfigOptions) (dbcontext *db.DatabaseContext, returnedError error) {
+	var bucket base.Bucket
+
 	// Generate bucket spec and validate whether db already exists
 	spec, err := GetBucketSpec(ctx, &config, sc.Config)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -490,6 +492,22 @@ func (sc *ServerContext) _getOrAddDatabaseFromConfig(ctx context.Context, config
 	if dbName == "" {
 		dbName = spec.BucketName
 	}
+	defer func() {
+		if returnedError == nil {
+			return
+		}
+		// database exists in global map, management is deferred to REST api
+		_, dbRegistered := sc.databases_[dbName]
+		if dbRegistered {
+			return
+		}
+		if dbcontext != nil {
+			dbcontext.Close(ctx) // will close underlying bucket
+		} else if bucket != nil {
+			bucket.Close(ctx)
+		}
+	}()
+
 	if spec.Server == "" {
 		spec.Server = sc.Config.Bootstrap.Server
 	}
@@ -530,7 +548,6 @@ func (sc *ServerContext) _getOrAddDatabaseFromConfig(ctx context.Context, config
 		base.MD(dbName), base.MD(spec.BucketName), base.SD(base.DefaultPool), base.SD(spec.Server))
 
 	// the connectToBucketFn is used for testing seam
-	var bucket base.Bucket
 	if options.connectToBucketFn != nil {
 		// the connectToBucketFn is used for testing seam
 		bucket, err = options.connectToBucketFn(ctx, spec, options.failFast)
@@ -821,7 +838,7 @@ func (sc *ServerContext) _getOrAddDatabaseFromConfig(ctx context.Context, config
 	}
 
 	// Create the DB Context
-	dbcontext, err := db.NewDatabaseContext(ctx, dbName, bucket, autoImport, contextOptions)
+	dbcontext, err = db.NewDatabaseContext(ctx, dbName, bucket, autoImport, contextOptions)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}