diff --git a/mvn-build/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java b/mvn-build/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java
index d4519495..80380d14 100644
--- a/mvn-build/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java
+++ b/mvn-build/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ public class LdapTemplate implements LdapOperations, InitializingBean {
 
 	private boolean ignorePartialResultException = false;
 
+	private boolean ignoreNameNotFoundException = false;
+
 	/**
 	 * Constructor for bean usage.
 	 */
@@ -107,6 +109,25 @@ public class LdapTemplate implements LdapOperations, InitializingBean {
 		return contextSource;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Specify whether <code>NameNotFoundException</code> should be ignored in
+	 * searches. In previous version, <code>NameNotFoundException</code> caused
+	 * by the search base not being found was silently ignored. The default
+	 * behavior is now to treat this as an error (as it should), and to convert
+	 * and re-throw the exception. The ability to revert to the previous
+	 * behavior still exists. The only difference is that the incident is in
+	 * that case no longer silently ignored, but logged as a warning.
+	 * 
+	 * @param ignore <code>true</code> if <code>NameNotFoundException</code>
+	 * should be ignored in searches, <code>false</code> otherwise. Default is
+	 * <code>false</code>.
+	 * 
+	 * @since 1.3
+	 */
+	public void setIgnoreNameNotFoundException(boolean ignore) {
+		this.ignoreNameNotFoundException = ignore;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Specify whether <code>PartialResultException</code> should be ignored
 	 * in searches. AD servers typically have a problem with referrals. Normally
@@ -262,14 +283,13 @@ public class LdapTemplate implements LdapOperations, InitializingBean {
 			}
 		}
 		catch (NameNotFoundException e) {
-			// The base context was not found, which basically means
-			// that the search did not return any results. Just clean up and
-			// exit.
-			// Note that this may present problems if a DirContextProcessor was
-			// supplied - there's no guarantee that the postProcess() operation
-			// will go well after a NamingException has been thrown. It is
-			// however quite possible that information will be available for
-			// retrieval either way.
+			// It is possible to ignore errors caused by base not found
+			if (ignoreNameNotFoundException) {
+				log.warn("Base context not found, ignoring: " + e.getMessage());
+			}
+			else {
+				ex = LdapUtils.convertLdapException(e);
+			}
 		}
 		catch (PartialResultException e) {
 			// Workaround for AD servers not handling referrals correctly.
diff --git a/mvn-build/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplateTest.java b/mvn-build/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplateTest.java
index 2b69f7a3..077d0e34 100644
--- a/mvn-build/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplateTest.java
+++ b/mvn-build/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplateTest.java
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
         controls.setReturningObjFlag(false);
 
         dirContextControl.setDefaultMatcher(new SearchControlsMatcher());
-        javax.naming.NameNotFoundException ne = new javax.naming.NameNotFoundException();
+        javax.naming.NameNotFoundException ne = new javax.naming.NameNotFoundException("some text");
         dirContextControl.expectAndThrow(dirContextMock.search(nameMock,
                 "(ou=somevalue)", controls), ne);
 
@@ -357,7 +357,13 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
 
         replay();
 
-        tested.search(nameMock, "(ou=somevalue)", handlerMock);
+        try {
+			tested.search(nameMock, "(ou=somevalue)", handlerMock);
+			fail("NameNotFoundException expected");
+		}
+		catch (NameNotFoundException expected) {
+			assertTrue(true);
+		}
 
         verify();
     }
@@ -1605,7 +1611,13 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
 
         replay();
 
-        tested.search(searchExecutorMock, handlerMock);
+        try {
+        	tested.search(searchExecutorMock, handlerMock);
+			fail("NameNotFoundException expected");
+		}
+		catch (NameNotFoundException expected) {
+			assertTrue(true);
+		}
 
         verify();
     }
diff --git a/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/java/log4j.properties b/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/java/log4j.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index f57302e8..00000000
--- a/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/java/log4j.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-log4j.rootCategory=WARN, stdout
-
-log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
-log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
-log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%d %p [%c] - <%m>%n
-
-#Enable debug logging
-log4j.category.net.sf.ldaptemplate=INFO
-log4j.category.net.sf.ldaptemplate.LdapTemplate=DEBUG
diff --git a/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateSearchResultITest.java b/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateSearchResultITest.java
index bf57b524..88bf183e 100644
--- a/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateSearchResultITest.java
+++ b/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateSearchResultITest.java
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 package org.springframework.ldap;
 
 import static junit.framework.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static junit.framework.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static junit.framework.Assert.fail;
 
 import java.util.List;
 
@@ -179,4 +181,27 @@ public class LdapTemplateSearchResultITest extends AbstractLdapTemplateIntegrati
 		List list = tested.search(BASE_NAME, FILTER_STRING, SearchControls.SUBTREE_SCOPE, CN_SN_ATTRS, contextMapper);
 		assertEquals(1, list.size());
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testSearchWithInvalidSearchBaseShouldByDefaultThrowException() {
+		try {
+			tested.search(BASE_NAME + "ou=unknown", FILTER_STRING, SearchControls.SUBTREE_SCOPE, CN_SN_ATTRS,
+					contextMapper);
+			fail("NameNotFoundException expected");
+		}
+		catch (NameNotFoundException expected) {
+			assertTrue(true);
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testSearchWithInvalidSearchBaseCanBeConfiguredToSwallowException() {
+		tested.setIgnoreNameNotFoundException(true);
+		contextMapper.setExpectedAttributes(CN_SN_ATTRS);
+		contextMapper.setExpectedValues(CN_SN_VALUES);
+		contextMapper.setAbsentAttributes(ABSENT_ATTRIBUTES);
+		List list = tested.search(BASE_NAME + "ou=unknown", FILTER_STRING, SearchControls.SUBTREE_SCOPE, CN_SN_ATTRS,
+				contextMapper);
+		assertEquals(0, list.size());
+	}
 }
diff --git a/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/resources/log4j.properties b/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/resources/log4j.properties
index 12c4b1c8..ee4b44e7 100644
--- a/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/resources/log4j.properties
+++ b/mvn-build/test/integration-tests/src/test/resources/log4j.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
-log4j.rootCategory=warn, stdout
+log4j.rootCategory=WARN, stdout
 log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
 log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%r [%t] %-5p\: %-15c{2} - %m%n
 log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
 
+# Enable info on Spring LDAP
+#log4j.logger.org.springframework.ldap=INFO
+
 log4j.logger.org.apache.directory.server.schema.registries.DefaultSyntaxRegistry=WARN
\ No newline at end of file