diff --git a/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java b/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java
index e2a5343..34983c3 100644
--- a/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java
+++ b/genomix/genomix-data/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/config/GenomixJobConf.java
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
         @Option(name = "-coresPerMachine", usage="the number of cores available in each machine", required=false)
         private int coresPerMachine = -1;
         
-        @Option(name = "-runLocal", usage = "Run a local instance using the Hadoop MiniCluster. NOTE: overrides settings for -ip and -port", required=false)
+        @Option(name = "-runLocal", usage = "Run a local instance using the Hadoop MiniCluster. NOTE: overrides settings for -ip and -port and those in conf/*.properties", required=false)
         private boolean runLocal = false;
         
         @Argument
@@ -299,9 +299,9 @@
         if (Integer.parseInt(conf.get(TIP_REMOVE_MAX_LENGTH)) < kmerLength)
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("tipRemove_maxLength must be at least as long as kmerLength!");
 
-        // Hyracks/Pregelix Advanced Setup
-        if (conf.get(IP_ADDRESS) == null)
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("ipAddress was not specified!");        
+//        // Hyracks/Pregelix Advanced Setup
+//        if (conf.get(IP_ADDRESS) == null)
+//            throw new IllegalArgumentException("ipAddress was not specified!");
     }
     
     private void fillMissingDefaults() {
@@ -341,11 +341,11 @@
         if (getInt(CORES_PER_MACHINE, -1) == -1)
             setInt(CORES_PER_MACHINE, 4);
         
-        if (getBoolean(RUN_LOCAL, false)) {
-            // override any other settings for HOST and PORT
-            set(IP_ADDRESS, PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.CC_HOST);
-            setInt(PORT, PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.TEST_HYRACKS_CC_CLIENT_PORT);
-        }
+//        if (getBoolean(RUN_LOCAL, false)) {
+//            // override any other settings for HOST and PORT
+//            set(IP_ADDRESS, PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.CC_HOST);
+//            setInt(PORT, PregelixHyracksIntegrationUtil.TEST_HYRACKS_CC_CLIENT_PORT);
+//        }
     }
 
     private void setFromOpts(Options opts) {
@@ -371,8 +371,10 @@
         setBoolean(SAVE_INTERMEDIATE_RESULTS, opts.saveIntermediateResults);
             
 
-        if (opts.runLocal && (opts.ipAddress != null || opts.port != -1))
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Option -runLocal cannot be set at the same time as -port or -ip! (-runLocal starts a cluster; -ip and -port specify an existing cluster)");
+//        if (opts.runLocal && (opts.ipAddress != null || opts.port != -1))
+//            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Option -runLocal cannot be set at the same time as -port or -ip! (-runLocal starts a cluster; -ip and -port specify an existing cluster)");
+        if (opts.runLocal)
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("runLocal is currently unsupported!");
         setBoolean(RUN_LOCAL, opts.runLocal);
         
         // Hyracks/Pregelix Setup
diff --git a/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/DriverUtils.java b/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/DriverUtils.java
index 6de23b1..e448c0f 100644
--- a/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/DriverUtils.java
+++ b/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/DriverUtils.java
@@ -2,9 +2,12 @@
 
 import java.io.BufferedWriter;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.FileWriter;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.TreeMap;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 
@@ -30,9 +33,10 @@
 import edu.uci.ics.genomix.config.GenomixJobConf;
 import edu.uci.ics.genomix.type.NodeWritable;
 import edu.uci.ics.genomix.type.VKmerBytesWritable;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.api.exceptions.HyracksDataException;
 
 public class DriverUtils {
-    
+
     enum NCTypes {
         HYRACKS,
         PREGELIX
@@ -40,6 +44,35 @@
 
     private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(DriverUtils.class);
     
+    /*
+     * Get the IP address of the master node using the bin/getip.sh script
+     */
+    static String getIP(String hostName) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+        String getIPCmd = "ssh -n " + hostName + " \"" + System.getProperty("app.home", ".") + File.separator + "bin"
+                + File.separator + "getip.sh\"";
+        System.out.println(getIPCmd);
+        Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(getIPCmd);
+        p.waitFor(); // wait for ssh 
+        String stdout = IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()).trim();
+        if (p.exitValue() != 0)
+            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to get the ip address of the master node! Script returned exit code: "
+                    + p.exitValue() + "\nstdout: " + stdout + "\nstderr: " + IOUtils.toString(p.getErrorStream()));
+        return stdout;
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * set the CC's IP address and port from the cluster.properties and `getip.sh` script 
+     */
+    static void updateCCProperties(GenomixJobConf conf) throws FileNotFoundException, IOException, InterruptedException {
+        if (conf.get(GenomixJobConf.IP_ADDRESS) == null)
+            conf.set(GenomixJobConf.IP_ADDRESS, getIP("localhost"));
+        if (Integer.parseInt(conf.get(GenomixJobConf.PORT)) == -1) {
+            Properties CCProperties = new Properties();
+            CCProperties.load(new FileInputStream(System.getProperty("app.home", ".") + File.separator + "conf" + File.separator + "cluster.properties"));
+            conf.set(GenomixJobConf.PORT, CCProperties.getProperty("CC_CLIENTPORT"));
+        }
+    }
+
     static void startNCs(NCTypes type) throws IOException {
         LOG.info("Starting NC's");
         String startNCCmd = System.getProperty("app.home", ".") + File.separator + "bin" + File.separator
@@ -54,7 +87,7 @@
         if (p.exitValue() != 0)
             throw new RuntimeException("Failed to start the" + type + " NC's! Script returned exit code: "
                     + p.exitValue() + "\nstdout: " + IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()) + "\nstderr: "
-                    + IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()));
+                    + IOUtils.toString(p.getErrorStream()));
     }
 
     static void shutdownNCs() throws IOException {
@@ -64,7 +97,7 @@
         Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(stopNCCmd);
         try {
             p.waitFor(); // wait for ssh 
-//            Thread.sleep(3000);
+            //            Thread.sleep(3000);
         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
             e.printStackTrace();
         }
@@ -84,7 +117,7 @@
         if (p.exitValue() != 0)
             throw new RuntimeException("Failed to start the genomix CC! Script returned exit code: " + p.exitValue()
                     + "\nstdout: " + IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()) + "\nstderr: "
-                    + IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()));
+                    + IOUtils.toString(p.getErrorStream()));
     }
 
     static void shutdownCC() throws IOException {
@@ -93,16 +126,16 @@
         Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(stopCCCmd);
         try {
             p.waitFor(); // wait for cmd execution
-//            Thread.sleep(2000);
+            //            Thread.sleep(2000);
         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
             e.printStackTrace();
         }
-//        if (p.exitValue() != 0)
-//            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to stop the genomix CC! Script returned exit code: " + p.exitValue()
-//                    + "\nstdout: " + IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()) + "\nstderr: "
-//                    + IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()));
+        //        if (p.exitValue() != 0)
+        //            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to stop the genomix CC! Script returned exit code: " + p.exitValue()
+        //                    + "\nstdout: " + IOUtils.toString(p.getInputStream()) + "\nstderr: "
+        //                    + IOUtils.toString(p.getErrorStream()));
     }
-    
+
     public static void copyLocalToHDFS(JobConf conf, String localDir, String destDir) throws IOException {
         LOG.info("Copying local directory " + localDir + " to HDFS: " + destDir);
         GenomixJobConf.tick("copyLocalToHDFS");
@@ -117,7 +150,7 @@
                 dfs.copyFromLocalFile(new Path(f.toString()), dest);
         else
             dfs.copyFromLocalFile(new Path(localDir), dest);
-        
+
         LOG.info("Copy took " + GenomixJobConf.tock("copyLocalToHDFS") + "ms");
     }
 
@@ -168,12 +201,12 @@
         LOG.info("Getting coverage statistics...");
         GenomixJobConf.tick("drawStatistics");
         FileSystem dfs = FileSystem.get(conf);
-        
+
         // stream in the graph, counting elements as you go... this would be better as a hadoop job which aggregated... maybe into counters?
         SequenceFile.Reader reader = null;
         VKmerBytesWritable key = null;
         NodeWritable value = null;
-        TreeMap<Integer, Long> coverageCounts = new TreeMap<Integer, Long>();        
+        TreeMap<Integer, Long> coverageCounts = new TreeMap<Integer, Long>();
         FileStatus[] files = dfs.globStatus(new Path(inputStats + File.separator + "*"));
         for (FileStatus f : files) {
             if (f.getLen() != 0) {
@@ -188,7 +221,7 @@
                         Long count = coverageCounts.get(cov);
                         if (count == null)
                             coverageCounts.put(cov, new Long(1));
-                        else 
+                        else
                             coverageCounts.put(cov, count + 1);
                     }
                 } catch (Exception e) {
@@ -199,7 +232,7 @@
                 }
             }
         }
-        
+
         XYSeries series = new XYSeries("Kmer Coverage");
         for (Entry<Integer, Long> pair : coverageCounts.entrySet()) {
             series.add(pair.getKey().floatValue(), pair.getValue().longValue());
@@ -215,13 +248,13 @@
         chartOut.close();
         LOG.info("Coverage took " + GenomixJobConf.tock("drawStatistics") + "ms");
     }
-    
-    
-    static void dumpGraph(JobConf conf, String inputGraph, String outputFasta, boolean followingBuild) throws IOException {
+
+    static void dumpGraph(JobConf conf, String inputGraph, String outputFasta, boolean followingBuild)
+            throws IOException {
         LOG.info("Dumping graph to fasta...");
         GenomixJobConf.tick("dumpGraph");
         FileSystem dfs = FileSystem.get(conf);
-        
+
         // stream in the graph, counting elements as you go... this would be better as a hadoop job which aggregated... maybe into counters?
         SequenceFile.Reader reader = null;
         VKmerBytesWritable key = null;
diff --git a/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java b/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java
index e134ca2..489ed05 100644
--- a/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java
+++ b/genomix/genomix-driver/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/genomix/driver/GenomixDriver.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Properties;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
@@ -116,6 +117,7 @@
 
     public void runGenomix(GenomixJobConf conf) throws NumberFormatException, HyracksException, Exception {
         KmerBytesWritable.setGlobalKmerLength(Integer.parseInt(conf.get(GenomixJobConf.KMER_LENGTH)));
+        DriverUtils.updateCCProperties(conf);
         jobs = new ArrayList<PregelixJob>();
         stepNum = 0;
         boolean dump = false;
@@ -248,7 +250,7 @@
     }
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws CmdLineException, NumberFormatException, HyracksException, Exception {
-        String[] myArgs = { "-ip", "169.234.116.43", "-port", "3099", 
+        String[] myArgs = { 
                 "-kmerLength", "5", "-coresPerMachine", "2",
                 //                        "-saveIntermediateResults", "true",
                 //                        "-localInput", "../genomix-pregelix/data/input/reads/synthetic/",