diff --git a/manifests/config.pp b/manifests/config.pp
index 9fac8fd..9438812 100644
--- a/manifests/config.pp
+++ b/manifests/config.pp
@@ -16,30 +16,17 @@ class rsnapshot::config (
     ensure => 'directory',
   }
 
-  #  $hosts_clean = $hosts.reduce( {} ) |$memo, $entry| {
-  #    $key   = $entry[0]
-  #    $value = $entry[1]
-  #    $new_value = $value ? {
-  #      undef   => {},
-  #      default => $value,
-  #    }
-  #    $memo + { $key => $new_value }
-  #  }
-  #  
+  # custom function, if only a hostname is given as a param, this is an empty hash
+  # the next loop would break as puppet does not allow to reassign variables
+  # the function checks $hosts for elements like: 
+  # { foo => } and converts those to { foo => {} }
   $hosts_clean = assert_empty_hash($hosts)
-  notify {"Hosts is: $hosts ": }
-  notify {"Hosts_clean is: $hosts_clean ": }
 
   $hosts_clean.each |String $host, Hash $hash | {
     $snapshot_root          = pick($hash['snapshot_root'], $rsnapshot::params::config_snapshot_root)
-    $backup                = pick($hash['backup'], $rsnapshot::params::config_backup)
     $backup_user            = pick($hash['backup_user'], $rsnapshot::params::config_backup_user)
+    $backup                 = pick($hash['backup'], $rsnapshot::params::config_backup)
     $backup_defaults        = pick($hash['backup_defaults'], $rsnapshot::params::config_backup_defaults)
-    if $backup_defaults {
-      $backups = merge($backup, $rsnapshot::params::config_backup) 
-    } else {
-      $backups = $backup   
-    }
     $cmd_cp                 = pick($hash['cmd_cp'], $rsnapshot::params::config_cmd_cp)
     $cmd_rm                 = pick($hash['cmd_rm'], $rsnapshot::params::config_cmd_rm)
     $cmd_rsync              = pick($hash['cmd_rsync'], $rsnapshot::params::config_cmd_rsync)
@@ -59,10 +46,7 @@ class rsnapshot::config (
     $linux_lvm_vgpath       = pick_undef($hash['linux_lvm_vgpath'], $rsnapshot::params::config_linux_lvm_vgpath)
     $linux_lvm_mountpath    = pick_undef($hash['linux_lvm_mountpath'], $rsnapshot::params::config_linux_lvm_mountpath)
     $no_create_root         = pick_undef($hash['no_create_root'], $rsnapshot::params::config_no_create_root)
-    notice("no_create_root for $host is $no_create_root ")
-    $lockfile               = "${lockpath}/${host}.pid"
     $logpath                = pick($hash['logpath'], $rsnapshot::logpath, $rsnapshot::params::config_logpath)
-    $logfile                = "${logpath}/${host}.log"
     $verbose                = pick($hash['verbose'], $rsnapshot::params::config_verbose)
     $loglevel               = pick($hash['loglevel'], $rsnapshot::params::config_loglevel)
     $stop_on_stale_lockfile = pick_undef($hash['stop_on_stale_lockfile'], $rsnapshot::params::config_stop_on_stale_lockfile)
@@ -71,35 +55,49 @@ class rsnapshot::config (
     $ssh_args               = pick_undef($hash['ssh_args'], $rsnapshot::params::config_ssh_args)
     $du_args                = pick_undef($hash['du_args'], $rsnapshot::params::config_du_args)
     $one_fs                 = pick_undef($hash['one_fs'], $rsnapshot::params::config_one_fs)
-    # one of both interval or retain must be present
     $interval               = pick($hash['interval'], $rsnapshot::params::config_interval)
     $retain                 = pick_undef($hash['retain'], $rsnapshot::params::config_retain)
-    notice("interval for $host is $interval ")
-    if ! ($interval and  $retain )  {
-      $interval               = pick($hash['interval'], $rsnapshot::params::config_interval)
-    }
     $include                = pick_undef($hash['include'], $rsnapshot::params::config_include)
     $exclude                = pick_undef($hash['exclude'], $rsnapshot::params::config_exclude)
     $include_file           = pick_undef($hash['include_file'], $rsnapshot::params::config_include_file)
     $exclude_file           = pick($hash['exclude_file'], $rsnapshot::params::config_exclude_file, "${conf_d}/${host}.exclude")
     $link_dest              = pick_undef($hash['link_dest'], $rsnapshot::params::config_link_dest)
-    if $link_dest { $link_dest_num = bool2num($link_dest) }
     $sync_first             = pick_undef($hash['sync_first'], $rsnapshot::params::config_sync_first)
-    if $sync_first { $sync_first_num = bool2num($sync_first)  }
-    $rsync_numtries         = pick_undef($hash['rsync_numtries'], $rsnapshot::params::config_rsync_numtries)
     $use_lazy_deletes       = pick_undef($hash['use_lazy_deletes'], $rsnapshot::params::config_use_lazy_deletes)
-    if $use_lazy_deletes { $use_lazy_deletes_num = bool2num($use_lazy_deletes)   }
+    $rsync_numtries         = pick_undef($hash['rsync_numtries'], $rsnapshot::params::config_rsync_numtries)
     $backup_scripts         = pick_undef($hash['backup_scripts'], $rsnapshot::params::config_backup_scripts)
 
     $snapshot_dir           = "${config_snapshot_root}/${host}"
     $config                 = "${conf_d}/${host}.rsnapshot.conf"
+    $lockfile               = "${lockpath}/${host}.pid"
+    $logfile                = "${logpath}/${host}.log"
 
-  
+    # merge the backup hashes to one if backup_default is set (defaults to true)
+    if $backup_defaults {
+      $backups = merge($backup, $rsnapshot::params::config_backup) 
+    } else {
+      $backups = $backup   
+    }
+
+    # one of both interval or retain must be present
+    if ! ( $interval and $retain ) {
+      $interval             = pick($hash['interval'], $rsnapshot::params::config_interval)
+    }
+    # rsnapshot wants numeric values
+    if $link_dest { 
+      $link_dest_num        = bool2num($link_dest) 
+    }
+    if $sync_first { 
+      $sync_first_num       = bool2num($sync_first)  
+    }
+    if $use_lazy_deletes { 
+      $use_lazy_deletes_num = bool2num($use_lazy_deletes)   
+    }
+
+    file { $exclude_file: 
+      ensure => file,
+    }
     file { $config:
-      ensure  => file,
-      owner   => 'root',
-      group   => 'root',
-      mode    => '0644',
       content => template('rsnapshot/rsnapshot.erb')
     }
   }