diff --git a/castor/db/oracleTapeGateway.sql b/castor/db/oracleTapeGateway.sql
index 4de48414ca359f0f0ff9162ea11c21ba45514105..90e759e93e33c0d3c4383d0aaa3497978affa4d1 100644
--- a/castor/db/oracleTapeGateway.sql
+++ b/castor/db/oracleTapeGateway.sql
@@ -1571,3 +1571,13 @@ BEGIN
       COMMENTS        => 'Creates RecallMount entries when new recalls should start');
 END;
 /
+
+
+/* Insert the bare minimum to get a working system. Inserted late in the creation
+ * script in order to use getTime().
+ * - Create the default recall group to have a default recall mount traffic shaping.
+ */
+INSERT INTO RecallGroup (id, name, nbDrives, minAmountDataForMount, minNbFilesForMount, maxFileAgeBeforeMount, vdqmPriority, lastEditor, lastEditionTime)
+VALUES (ids_seq.nextval, 'default', 20, 10*1024*1024*1024, 10, 30*3600, 0, '2.1.13 upgrade script', getTime());
+
+/* End of oracleTapeGateway.sql. This trailer makes sure the previous statement is followed by a new line. */
diff --git a/ns/oracleTrailer.sql b/ns/oracleTrailer.sql
index b0c0ae5d189bb10ed87aee712b191a18f0cc8b25..724b84bf60fe1006919d1fb662c19fa2614965a5 100644
--- a/ns/oracleTrailer.sql
+++ b/ns/oracleTrailer.sql
@@ -541,3 +541,20 @@ BEGIN
   COMMIT;
 END;
 /
+/* Insert the bare minimum to get a working system. Inserted late in the creation
+ * script in order to use getTime().
+ * - Create a default 'system' fileclass. Pre-requisite to next step.
+ * - Create the root directory.
+ * - Create a synonym to access the VMGR. This requires CNS and VMGR co-location
+ *   in the same database.
+ */
+-- Root entry
+ insert into cns_class_metadata (classid,   name, owner_uid, gid, min_filesize, max_filesize, flags, maxdrives, max_segsize, migr_time_interval, mintime_beforemigr, nbcopies, retenp_on_disk) 
+values                         (      1, 'system',       0,   0,            0,            0,     0,         0,           0,                  0,                  0,        0,              0);
+insert into cns_file_metadata (fileid, parent_fileid, guid, name, filemode, nlink, owner_uid, gid, filesize,      atime,     mtime,     ctime, fileclass, status, csumtype, csumvalue,  acl) 
+values                        (     2,             0, NULL,  '/',    16877,     0,         0,   0,        0,  getTime(), getTime(), getTime(),         1,    '-',     NULL,      NULL, NULL);
+
+-- A synonym allowing to acces the VMGR_TAPE_SIDE table from within the nameserver DB
+UNDEF vmgrSchema
+ACCEPT vmgrSchema CHAR DEFAULT 'vmgr' PROMPT 'Enter the name of the VMGR schema (default vmgr): ';
+CREATE OR REPLACE SYNONYM Vmgr_tape_side FOR &vmgrSchema..Vmgr_tape_side;
\ No newline at end of file