diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/Proxy.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/Proxy.java
index 50d28ee..e89f8e9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/Proxy.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/Proxy.java
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@
         sslParams = SslConnectionParams.forClient(ClientContext.convertClientConfig(clientConf));
         break;
       case SASL:
-        if (!clientConf.getBoolean(ClientProperty.INSTANCE_RPC_SASL_ENABLED.getKey(), false)) {
+        if (!clientConf.hasSasl()) {
           // ACCUMULO-3651 Changed level to error and added FATAL to message for slf4j capability
           log.error("FATAL: SASL thrift server was requested but it is disabled in client configuration");
           throw new RuntimeException("SASL is not enabled in configuration");
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/ProxyServer.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/ProxyServer.java
index 5bd4dce..9478cc6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/ProxyServer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/proxy/ProxyServer.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -112,7 +113,6 @@
 import org.apache.accumulo.proxy.thrift.WriterOptions;
 import org.apache.accumulo.server.rpc.ThriftServerType;
 import org.apache.accumulo.server.rpc.UGIAssumingProcessor;
-import org.apache.commons.configuration.ConfigurationException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
 import org.apache.thrift.TException;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -197,11 +197,7 @@
       ClientConfiguration clientConf;
       if (props.containsKey("clientConfigurationFile")) {
         String clientConfFile = props.getProperty("clientConfigurationFile");
-        try {
-          clientConf = new ClientConfiguration(clientConfFile);
-        } catch (ConfigurationException e) {
-          throw new RuntimeException(e);
-        }
+        clientConf = ClientConfiguration.fromFile(new File(clientConfFile));
       } else {
         clientConf = ClientConfiguration.loadDefault();
       }