diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f8691be62..a13d16471 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,9 +11,69 @@ managing associations.
 ### Installation
 
 To use the Spring Data Rest exporter, first package your domain classes and repositories into a JAR
-file. Include some Spring XML configuration files in the `META-INF/spring-data-rest` directory in
-that JAR file (including an applicable EntityManager and DataSource).
+file. Include some Spring XML configuration files in the `META-INF/spring-data-rest` directory (the
+file name should end with "-export.xml" to be picked up by the scanner) in that JAR file that include
+an applicable EntityManager and DataSource and the Repository configuration (using the special JPA
+Repository namespace).
 
 You can either deploy this JAR file into your Servlet container in a "shared" configuration, or you
-can add this JAR file (and any other application dependencies to the exporter WAR file's `WEB-INF/lib`
+can add this JAR file (and any other application dependencies) to the exporter WAR file's `WEB-INF/lib`
 directory.
+
+Somewhere in the Spring configuration files you need to define a bean called "baseUri" that is a
+`java.net.URI` and is the fully-qualified URI in which the exporter servlet has been deployed. In the
+case of the sample below, the servlet is deployed to a context path of `/data`. Using the default
+host and port settings, this yields a `baseUri` of `http://localhost:8080/data`. You'll want to change
+this to reflect your deployment configuration.
+
+### Sample Configuration
+
+The configuration used in testing looks like this:
+
+##### META-INF/spring-data-rest/shared.xml
+
+    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+    <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+           xmlns:jdbc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/jdbc"
+           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+           xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+           http://www.springframework.org/schema/jdbc http://www.springframework.org/schema/jdbc/spring-jdbc.xsd">
+
+      <bean id="baseUri" class="java.net.URI">
+        <constructor-arg value="http://localhost:8080/data"/>
+      </bean>
+
+      <bean id="entityManagerFactory" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean">
+        <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
+        <property name="jpaVendorAdapter">
+          <bean class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.HibernateJpaVendorAdapter">
+            <property name="generateDdl" value="true"/>
+            <property name="database" value="HSQL"/>
+          </bean>
+        </property>
+        <property name="persistenceUnitName" value="jpa.sample"/>
+      </bean>
+
+      <bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager">
+        <property name="entityManagerFactory" ref="entityManagerFactory"/>
+      </bean>
+
+      <jdbc:embedded-database id="dataSource" type="HSQL"/>
+
+    </beans>
+
+##### META-INF/spring-data-rest/repositories-export.xml
+
+    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+    <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+           xmlns:jpa="http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa"
+           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+           xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+           http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa/spring-jpa.xsd">
+
+      <import resource="shared.xml"/>
+
+      <jpa:repositories base-package="org.springframework.data.rest.test.mvc"/>
+
+    </beans>
+
diff --git a/rest/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/RepositoryRestController.java b/rest/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/RepositoryRestController.java
index 75b224fd5..6fa634700 100644
--- a/rest/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/RepositoryRestController.java
+++ b/rest/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/RepositoryRestController.java
@@ -204,10 +204,6 @@ public class RepositoryRestController implements InitializingBean {
 
       URI relativeUri = baseUri.relativize(request.getURI());
       final Stack<URI> uris = UriUtils.explode(baseUri, relativeUri);
-      if (LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
-        LOG.debug("uris: " + uris);
-      }
-
       final int uriCnt = uris.size();
       if (uris.size() > 0) {
         final String repoName = uris.get(0).getPath();
@@ -448,6 +444,11 @@ public class RepositoryRestController implements InitializingBean {
                       repo.findOne(serId) :
                       entityMetadata.targetType().newInstance();
 
+                  if (null == entity) {
+                    model.addAttribute(STATUS, HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND);
+                    return;
+                  }
+
                   entityMetadata.doWithEmbedded(new Handler<Attribute, Void>() {
                     @Override public Void handle(Attribute attribute) {
                       String name = attribute.getName();
diff --git a/rest/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/spec/RepositoryRestControllerSpec.groovy b/rest/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/spec/RepositoryRestControllerSpec.groovy
index 1d7c0aa5a..830245b9e 100644
--- a/rest/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/spec/RepositoryRestControllerSpec.groovy
+++ b/rest/src/test/groovy/org/springframework/data/rest/mvc/spec/RepositoryRestControllerSpec.groovy
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest
 import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration
 import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional
 import org.springframework.ui.ExtendedModelMap
+import org.springframework.ui.Model
 import spock.lang.Shared
 import spock.lang.Specification
 
@@ -30,21 +31,47 @@ class RepositoryRestControllerSpec extends Specification {
   @Autowired
   RepositoryRestController controller
 
-  ServletServerHttpRequest createRequest(String method, String path) {
-    return new ServletServerHttpRequest(new MockHttpServletRequest(
+  MockHttpServletRequest createRequest(String method, String path) {
+    return new MockHttpServletRequest(
         serverPort: 8080,
         requestURI: "/data/$path",
         method: method
-    ))
+    )
   }
 
-  Map GET(String path) {
+  Model GET(String path) {
     def request = createRequest("GET", path)
     def model = new ExtendedModelMap()
-    controller.get(request, model)
+    controller.get(new ServletServerHttpRequest(request), model)
     return model
   }
 
+  Model POST(String path, m) {
+    def request = createRequest("POST", path)
+    request.contentType = "application/json"
+    request.setContent(mapper.writeValueAsBytes(m))
+    def model = new ExtendedModelMap()
+    controller.createOrUpdate(new ServletServerHttpRequest(request), model)
+    return model
+  }
+
+  Model PUT(String path, m) {
+    def request = createRequest("PUT", path)
+    request.contentType = "application/json"
+    request.setContent(mapper.writeValueAsBytes(m))
+    def model = new ExtendedModelMap()
+    controller.createOrUpdate(new ServletServerHttpRequest(request), model)
+    return model
+  }
+
+  Model DELETE(String path) {
+    def request = createRequest("DELETE", path)
+    def model = new ExtendedModelMap()
+    controller.delete(new ServletServerHttpRequest(request), model)
+    return model
+
+  }
+
   def setupSpec() {
     def customSerializerFactory = new CustomSerializerFactory()
     customSerializerFactory.addSpecificMapping(SimpleLink, new FluentBeanSerializer(SimpleLink))
@@ -74,15 +101,86 @@ class RepositoryRestControllerSpec extends Specification {
     def person = GET("person/1")
 
     then:
-    person?.resource.name == "John Doe"
+    person?.resource?.name == "John Doe"
 
     when:
     def profiles = GET("person/1/profiles")
-    def profilesLinks = profiles?.resource.profiles
+    def profilesLinks = profiles.resource?.profiles
 
     then:
     profilesLinks.size() == 2
 
   }
 
+  @Transactional
+  def "responds to POST with ID"() {
+
+    when:
+    def created = POST("person/3", [name: "James Doe"])
+
+    then:
+    created.status == HttpStatus.CREATED
+
+  }
+
+  @Transactional
+  def "responds to PUT"() {
+
+    given:
+    POST("person/3", [name: "James Doe"])
+
+    when:
+    def updated = PUT("person/3", [name: "James Doe Jr."])
+    def getUpdated = GET("person/3")
+
+    then:
+    updated.status == HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT
+    getUpdated.status == HttpStatus.OK
+    getUpdated.resource?.name == "James Doe Jr."
+
+  }
+
+  @Transactional
+  def "updates links"() {
+
+    given:
+    POST("person/3", [name: "James Doe"])
+
+    when:
+    def link = POST("person/3/addresses", [[href: "$baseUri/address/1".toString()]])
+    def getUpdated = GET("person/3/addresses")
+
+    then:
+    link.status == HttpStatus.CREATED
+    getUpdated.status == HttpStatus.OK
+    getUpdated.resource?.size() == 1
+
+  }
+
+  @Transactional
+  def "responds to DELETE"() {
+
+    given:
+    POST("person/3", [name: "James Doe"])
+    POST("person/3/addresses", [[href: "$baseUri/address/1".toString()]])
+
+    when:
+    def deleted = DELETE("person/3/addresses/1")
+    def getUpdated = GET("person/3/addresses")
+
+    then:
+    deleted.status == HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT
+    getUpdated.status == HttpStatus.OK
+    getUpdated.resource?._links?.size() == 0
+
+    when:
+    def delEntity = DELETE("person/3")
+    def getUpdEntity = GET("person/3")
+
+    then:
+    delEntity.status == HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT
+    getUpdEntity.status == HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND
+
+  }
+
 }