diff --git a/server/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/server/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 6b93fdc5f..6ee05e598 100644
--- a/server/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/server/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   postgres {
     # The JDBC driver class
     dataSourceClass=org.postgresql.Driver
-    serverName=localhost // host.docker.internal for local run in docker against db on its host machine; localhost otherwise for testing and for the gh pipeline
+    serverName=127.0.0.1 // host.docker.internal for local run in docker against db on its host machine; localhost otherwise for testing and for the gh pipeline
     # set to non-default port, to avoid local collision
     portNumber=5432
     databaseName=atum_db