diff --git a/castor/common/CastorConfiguration.hpp b/castor/common/CastorConfiguration.hpp
index e104a5e7919f36c1ddd36551bd938a1ae09a6745..4e4fd15edbeddd7dd727a895105e5bae6107e75e 100644
--- a/castor/common/CastorConfiguration.hpp
+++ b/castor/common/CastorConfiguration.hpp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ namespace castor {
        * static method for getting a given configuration
        * @param fileName the name of the file to be used for filling this configuration
        */
-      static CastorConfiguration& getConfig(const std::string filename)
+      static CastorConfiguration& getConfig(const std::string filename = "/etc/castor/castor.conf")
         throw (castor::exception::Exception);
         
     public: