diff --git a/configs/docker_config.py b/configs/docker_config.py
index f045e95..030e8d2 100644
--- a/configs/docker_config.py
+++ b/configs/docker_config.py
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@ legal_envvars_bool = (
     'SIGNUP_ENABLED',
     'LOCAL_DB_ENABLED',
     'LDAP_ENABLED',
-    'SESSION_TYPE',
     'SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE',
     'CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE',
     'CAPTCHA_ENABLE',
diff --git a/powerdnsadmin/__init__.py b/powerdnsadmin/__init__.py
index f3bca83..d447a00 100755
--- a/powerdnsadmin/__init__.py
+++ b/powerdnsadmin/__init__.py
@@ -56,8 +56,15 @@ def create_app(config=None):
         _sslify = SSLify(app)  # lgtm [py/unused-local-variable]
 
     # Load Flask-Session
-    sess = Session()
-    sess.init_app(app)
+    app.config['SESSION_TYPE'] = app.config.get('SESSION_TYPE')
+    if 'SESSION_TYPE' in os.environ:
+        app.config['SESSION_TYPE'] = os.environ.get('SESSION_TYPE')
+
+    sess = Session(app)
+
+    # create sessions table if using sqlalchemy backend
+    if os.environ.get('SESSION_TYPE') == 'sqlalchemy':
+        sess.app.session_interface.db.create_all()
 
     # SMTP
     app.mail = Mail(app)