diff --git a/litellm/proxy/db/exception_handler.py b/litellm/proxy/db/exception_handler.py
index 79229f1e1bb..db73f9e9c93 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/db/exception_handler.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/db/exception_handler.py
@@ -18,10 +18,9 @@ class PrismaDBExceptionHandler:
         """
         Returns True if the request should be allowed to proceed despite the DB connection error
         """
-        from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import proxy_config
+        from litellm.proxy.proxy_server import general_settings
 
-        _general_settings = proxy_config.config
-        _allow_requests_on_db_unavailable: Union[bool, str] = _general_settings.get(
+        _allow_requests_on_db_unavailable: Union[bool, str] = general_settings.get(
             "allow_requests_on_db_unavailable", False
         )
         if isinstance(_allow_requests_on_db_unavailable, bool):
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index 67d88b9d322..c2044ac1d64 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -454,17 +454,6 @@ async def proxy_startup_event(app: FastAPI):
     import json
 
     init_verbose_loggers()
-    ### LOAD MASTER KEY ###
-    # check if master key set in environment - load from there
-    master_key = get_secret("LITELLM_MASTER_KEY", None)  # type: ignore
-    # check if DATABASE_URL in environment - load from there
-    if prisma_client is None:
-        _db_url: Optional[str] = get_secret("DATABASE_URL", None)  # type: ignore
-        prisma_client = await ProxyStartupEvent._setup_prisma_client(
-            database_url=_db_url,
-            proxy_logging_obj=proxy_logging_obj,
-            user_api_key_cache=user_api_key_cache,
-        )
     ## CHECK PREMIUM USER
     verbose_proxy_logger.debug(
         "litellm.proxy.proxy_server.py::startup() - CHECKING PREMIUM USER - {}".format(
@@ -521,6 +510,18 @@ async def proxy_startup_event(app: FastAPI):
             if isinstance(worker_config, dict):
                 await initialize(**worker_config)
 
+    ### LOAD MASTER KEY ###
+    # check if master key set in environment - load from there
+    master_key = get_secret("LITELLM_MASTER_KEY", None)  # type: ignore
+    # check if DATABASE_URL in environment - load from there
+    if prisma_client is None:
+        _db_url: Optional[str] = get_secret("DATABASE_URL", None)  # type: ignore
+        prisma_client = await ProxyStartupEvent._setup_prisma_client(
+            database_url=_db_url,
+            proxy_logging_obj=proxy_logging_obj,
+            user_api_key_cache=user_api_key_cache,
+        )
+
     ProxyStartupEvent._initialize_startup_logging(
         llm_router=llm_router,
         proxy_logging_obj=proxy_logging_obj,