diff --git a/keyserver/src/database/db-config.js b/keyserver/src/database/db-config.js
index f9e87d7a6..3574ba6e7 100644
--- a/keyserver/src/database/db-config.js
+++ b/keyserver/src/database/db-config.js
@@ -1,63 +1,70 @@
 // @flow
 
 import invariant from 'invariant';
 
 import { importJSON } from '../utils/import-json';
 
-type DBType = 'mysql5.7' | 'mariadb10.8';
+type DBType = 'mariadb10.8';
 export type DBConfig = {
   +host: string,
   +user: string,
   +password: string,
   +database: string,
   +dbType: DBType,
 };
 
 function assertValidDBType(dbType: ?string): DBType {
-  if (!dbType) {
-    return 'mysql5.7';
-  }
   invariant(
-    dbType === 'mysql5.7' || dbType === 'mariadb10.8',
-    `${dbType} is not a valid dbType`,
+    dbType,
+    'dbType not specified in DB config. Following the MySQL deprecation this ' +
+      'is a required parameter. Please follow this Gist to migrate to ' +
+      'MariaDB: ' +
+      'https://gist.github.com/Ashoat/3a5ded2549db082c5516606f3c3c5da5',
+  );
+  invariant(
+    dbType !== 'mysql5.7',
+    'We no longer support MySQL. Please follow this Gist to migrate to ' +
+      'MariaDB: ' +
+      'https://gist.github.com/Ashoat/3a5ded2549db082c5516606f3c3c5da5',
   );
+  invariant(dbType === 'mariadb10.8', `${dbType} is not a valid dbType`);
   return dbType;
 }
 
 let dbConfig;
 async function getDBConfig(): Promise<DBConfig> {
   if (dbConfig !== undefined) {
     return dbConfig;
   }
   if (
     process.env.COMM_DATABASE_DATABASE &&
     process.env.COMM_DATABASE_USER &&
     process.env.COMM_DATABASE_PASSWORD
   ) {
     dbConfig = {
       host: process.env.COMM_DATABASE_HOST || 'localhost',
       user: process.env.COMM_DATABASE_USER,
       password: process.env.COMM_DATABASE_PASSWORD,
       database: process.env.COMM_DATABASE_DATABASE,
       dbType: assertValidDBType(process.env.COMM_DATABASE_TYPE),
     };
   } else {
     const importedDBConfig = await importJSON({
       folder: 'secrets',
       name: 'db_config',
     });
     invariant(importedDBConfig, 'DB config missing');
     dbConfig = {
       ...importedDBConfig,
       dbType: assertValidDBType(importedDBConfig.dbType),
     };
   }
   return dbConfig;
 }
 
 async function getDBType(): Promise<DBType> {
   const config = await getDBConfig();
   return config.dbType;
 }
 
 export { getDBConfig, getDBType };