diff --git a/data/users.py b/data/users.py
index 4a4c9832f..fd3263a0a 100644
--- a/data/users.py
+++ b/data/users.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import json
 import itertools
 import uuid
 import struct
+import os
 
 from util.aes import AESCipher
 from util.validation import generate_valid_usernames
@@ -29,7 +30,8 @@ class LDAPConnection(object):
     self._conn = None
 
   def __enter__(self):
-    self._conn = ldap.initialize(self._ldap_uri, trace_level=1)
+    trace_level = 2 if os.environ.get('LDAP_DEBUG') else 0
+    self._conn = ldap.initialize(self._ldap_uri, trace_level=trace_level)
     self._conn.simple_bind_s(self._user_dn, self._user_pw)
     return self._conn
 
@@ -54,7 +56,11 @@ class LDAPUsers(object):
                                               username_or_email)
 
       logger.debug('Conducting user search: %s => %s', user_search_dn, query)
-      user = conn.search_s(user_search_dn, ldap.SCOPE_SUBTREE, query.encode('utf-8'))
+      try:
+        user = conn.search_s(user_search_dn, ldap.SCOPE_SUBTREE, query.encode('utf-8'))
+      except ldap.LDAPError:
+        logger.exception('LDAP search exception')
+        return None
 
       logger.debug('Found user data: %s', user)
       if len(user) != 1: