diff --git a/ipapython/ipaldap.py b/ipapython/ipaldap.py
index eee5e3a62..4faec781d 100644
--- a/ipapython/ipaldap.py
+++ b/ipapython/ipaldap.py
@@ -704,7 +704,16 @@ class LDAPClient(object):
             If true, attributes are decoded to Python types according to their
             syntax.
         """
-        self.ldap_uri = ldap_uri
+        if ldap_uri is not None:
+            self.ldap_uri = ldap_uri
+            self.host = 'localhost'
+            self.port = None
+            url_data = urlparse(ldap_uri)
+            self._protocol = url_data.scheme
+            if self._protocol in ('ldap', 'ldaps'):
+                self.host = url_data.hostname
+                self.port = url_data.port
+
         self._start_tls = start_tls
         self._force_schema_updates = force_schema_updates
         self._no_schema = no_schema
@@ -712,14 +721,6 @@ class LDAPClient(object):
         self._cacert = cacert
         self._sasl_nocanon = sasl_nocanon
 
-        self.host = 'localhost'
-        self.port = None
-        url_data = urlparse(ldap_uri)
-        self._protocol = url_data.scheme
-        if self._protocol in ('ldap', 'ldaps'):
-            self.host = url_data.hostname
-            self.port = url_data.port
-
         self.log = log_mgr.get_logger(self)
         self._has_schema = False
         self._schema = None
diff --git a/ipaserver/plugins/ldap2.py b/ipaserver/plugins/ldap2.py
index 3b1e4da57..cf2bd6c0a 100644
--- a/ipaserver/plugins/ldap2.py
+++ b/ipaserver/plugins/ldap2.py
@@ -67,19 +67,20 @@ class ldap2(CrudBackend, LDAPClient):
     LDAP Backend Take 2.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, api, ldap_uri=None):
-        if ldap_uri is None:
-            ldap_uri = api.env.ldap_uri
-
+    def __init__(self, api):
         force_schema_updates = api.env.context in ('installer', 'updates')
 
         CrudBackend.__init__(self, api)
-        LDAPClient.__init__(self, ldap_uri,
+        LDAPClient.__init__(self, None,
                             force_schema_updates=force_schema_updates)
 
         self._time_limit = float(LDAPClient.time_limit)
         self._size_limit = int(LDAPClient.size_limit)
 
+    @property
+    def ldap_uri(self):
+        return self.api.env.ldap_uri
+
     @property
     def time_limit(self):
         if self._time_limit is None: