diff --git a/helm/settings_local.py b/helm/settings_local.py
index eb960839b..0a6f8a3b5 100644
--- a/helm/settings_local.py
+++ b/helm/settings_local.py
@@ -140,9 +140,9 @@ if _MEETECHO_CLIENT_ID is not None and _MEETECHO_CLIENT_SECRET is not None:
         "client_secret": _MEETECHO_CLIENT_SECRET,
         "request_timeout": 3.01,  # python-requests doc recommend slightly > a multiple of 3 seconds
     }
-elif SERVER_MODE == "production":
+else:
     raise RuntimeError(
-        "DATATRACKER_MEETECHO_CLIENT_ID and DATATRACKER_MEETECHO_CLIENT_SECRET must be set in production"
+        "DATATRACKER_MEETECHO_CLIENT_ID and DATATRACKER_MEETECHO_CLIENT_SECRET must be set"
     )
 
 _APP_API_TOKENS_JSON = os.environ.get("DATATRACKER_APP_API_TOKENS_JSON", None)
@@ -190,6 +190,11 @@ DRAFT_VIRTUAL_PATH = "/a/postfix/draft-virtual"
 GROUP_ALIASES_PATH = "/a/postfix/group-aliases"
 GROUP_VIRTUAL_PATH = "/a/postfix/group-virtual"
 
+# Repoint STATIC_URL - hack to let staging access statics without hosting them itself
+_STATIC_URL = os.environ.get("DATATRACKER_STATIC_URL", None)
+if _STATIC_URL is not None:
+    STATIC_URL = _STATIC_URL
+
 # Set these to the same as "production" in settings.py, whether production mode or not
 MEDIA_ROOT = "/a/www/www6s/lib/dt/media/"
 MEDIA_URL  = "https://www.ietf.org/lib/dt/media/"
diff --git a/helm/templates/persistentvolumeclaims.yaml b/helm/templates/persistentvolumeclaims.yaml
index db636fb05..54e75925a 100644
--- a/helm/templates/persistentvolumeclaims.yaml
+++ b/helm/templates/persistentvolumeclaims.yaml
@@ -2,25 +2,36 @@ apiVersion: v1
 kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
 metadata:
   name: "datatracker-shared-volume-claim"
-  # Note: This is the /a shared volume. The spec should be adjusted to ensure it always
-  # matches the correct EBS volume in production. For the moment, it just requests a
-  # large volume.
 spec:
+  {{- with .Values.persistentVolumes.datatrackerSharedVolume }}
+  storageClassName: {{ .storageClassName | quote }}
+  {{- if .volumeName }}
+  volumeName: {{ .volumeName | quote }}
+  {{- end }}
   accessModes:
-    - ReadWriteMany  # or ReadWriteOnce and force datatracker/celery/beat to a single node
+    {{- range  .accessModes }}
+    - {{ . | quote }}
+    {{- end }}
   resources:
     requests:
-      storage: 600Gi  # adjust to something satisfied by the /a PersistentVolume
+      storage: {{ .storage | quote }}
+  {{- end }}
 ---
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
 metadata:
   name: "rabbitmq-data-claim"
 spec:
-#  storageClassName: "local"
-#  volumeName: ""
+  {{- with .Values.persistentVolumes.rabbitmqDataVolume }}
+  storageClassName: {{ .storageClassName | quote }}
+  {{- if .volumeName }}
+  volumeName: {{ .volumeName | quote }}
+  {{- end }}
   accessModes:
-    - ReadWriteOnce
+    {{- range  .accessModes }}
+    - {{ . | quote }}
+    {{- end }}
   resources:
     requests:
-      storage: 8Gi
+      storage: {{ .storage | quote }}
+  {{- end }}
diff --git a/helm/values.yaml b/helm/values.yaml
index 6e79be5e8..7170e63d0 100644
--- a/helm/values.yaml
+++ b/helm/values.yaml
@@ -561,6 +561,26 @@ memcached:
 
   affinity: {}
 
+# -------------------------------------------------------------
+# PERSISTENT VOLUMES
+# -------------------------------------------------------------
+
+persistentVolumes:
+  datatrackerSharedVolume:
+    # Note: This is the /a shared volume
+    volumeName: "datatracker-shared-volume"
+    accessModes:
+      - "ReadWriteMany"  # or ReadWriteOnce and force datatracker/celery/beat to a single node
+    storageClassName: ""  # Empty string means do not use default storage class
+    storage: "600Gi"  # actual PersistentVolume must be at least this big or the PVC will not bind
+
+  rabbitmqDataVolume:
+    volumeName: "rabbitmq-data-volume"
+    accessModes:
+      - "ReadWriteOnce"
+    storageClassName: ""  # Empty string means do not use default storage class
+    storage: "8Gi"  # actual PersistentVolume must be at least this big or the PVC will not bind
+
 # -------------------------------------------------------------
 # COMMON
 # -------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -592,7 +612,11 @@ env:
   # DATATRACKER_DBPASS: "RkTkDPFnKpko"  # secret
   
   DATATRACKER_DJANGO_SECRET_KEY: "PDwXboUq!=hPjnrtG2=ge#N$Dwy+wn@uivrugwpic8mxyPfHk"  # secret
-
+  
+  # Set this to point testing / staging at the production statics server until we
+  # sort that out
+  DATATRACKER_STATIC_URL: "https://static.ietf.org/dt/12.10.0/"
+  
   # DATATRACKER_EMAIL_DEBUG: "true"
   
   # Outgoing email details