diff --git a/install_minimal/upgrades/airtime-2.0.0/UpgradeCommon.php b/install_minimal/upgrades/airtime-2.0.0/UpgradeCommon.php
index 57ee794cd..25e628bf2 100644
--- a/install_minimal/upgrades/airtime-2.0.0/UpgradeCommon.php
+++ b/install_minimal/upgrades/airtime-2.0.0/UpgradeCommon.php
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 <?php
 
+set_include_path(__DIR__.'/../../airtime_mvc/library/pear' . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());
+require_once('DB.php');
+
 /* These are helper functions that are common to each upgrade such as
  * creating connections to a database, backing up config files etc.
  */
@@ -14,6 +17,25 @@ class UpgradeCommon{
     const CONF_PYPO_GRP = "pypo";
     const CONF_WWW_DATA_GRP = "www-data";
     
+    public static function connectToDatabase($p_exitOnError = true)
+    {
+        global $CC_DBC, $CC_CONFIG;
+        $CC_DBC = DB::connect($CC_CONFIG['dsn'], FALSE);
+        if (PEAR::isError($CC_DBC)) {
+            echo $CC_DBC->getMessage().PHP_EOL;
+            echo $CC_DBC->getUserInfo().PHP_EOL;
+            echo "Database connection problem.".PHP_EOL;
+            echo "Check if database '{$CC_CONFIG['dsn']['database']}' exists".
+                 " with corresponding permissions.".PHP_EOL;
+            if ($p_exitOnError) {
+                exit(1);
+            }
+        } else {
+            $CC_DBC->setFetchMode(DB_FETCHMODE_ASSOC);
+        }
+    }
+
+    
     public static function DbTableExists($p_name)
     {
         global $CC_DBC;
diff --git a/install_minimal/upgrades/upgrade-template/airtime-upgrade.php b/install_minimal/upgrades/upgrade-template/airtime-upgrade.php
index 5812e84ac..69860376d 100644
--- a/install_minimal/upgrades/upgrade-template/airtime-upgrade.php
+++ b/install_minimal/upgrades/upgrade-template/airtime-upgrade.php
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ class AirtimeMiscUpgrade{
     }
 }
 
-UpgradeCommonFunctions::connectToDatabase();
+UpgradeCommon::connectToDatabase();
 
 AirtimeDatabaseUpgrade::start();
 AirtimeStorWatchedDirsUpgrade::start();