diff --git a/ansible/roles/synapse/defaults/main.json b/ansible/roles/synapse/defaults/main.json
index fe0f604..a57ac35 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/synapse/defaults/main.json
+++ b/ansible/roles/synapse/defaults/main.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"var_synapse_scheme": "https",
-	"var_synapse_domain": "matrix.example.org",
+	"var_synapse_domain": "synapse.example.org",
 	"var_synaspe_database_kind": "sqlite",
 	"var_synaspe_database_sqlite_path": "/var/synapse/data.sqlite",
 	"var_synaspe_database_postgresql_host": "localhost",
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
 	"var_synaspe_database_postgresql_schema": "synapse",
 	"var_synapse_element_url": "https://element.example.org",
 	"var_synapse_title": "Example | Matrix",
-	"var_synapse_federation_whitelist": "[]",
-	"var_synapse_password_strict_policy": "true",
+	"var_synapse_federation_whitelist": [],
+	"var_synapse_password_strict_policy": true,
 	"var_synapse_registration_shared_secret": "REPLACE_ME",
 	"var_synapse_oidc_enable": false,
 	"var_synapse_oidc_provider_id": "external_auth",
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
 	"var_synapse_oidc_client_secret": "REPLACE_ME",
 	"var_synapse_oidc_issuer_url": "https://auth.example.org",
 	"var_synapse_smtp_host": "smtp.example.org",
-	"var_synapse_smtp_port": "587",
-	"var_synapse_smtp_username": "matrix@smtp.example.org",
+	"var_synapse_smtp_port": 587,
+	"var_synapse_smtp_username": "synapse@smtp.example.org",
 	"var_synapse_smtp_password": "REPLACE_ME",
 	"var_synapse_admin_user_define": true,
 	"var_synapse_admin_user_name": "admin",
diff --git a/ansible/roles/synapse/templates/homeserver.yaml.j2 b/ansible/roles/synapse/templates/homeserver.yaml.j2
index c58e3e7..de8088e 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/synapse/templates/homeserver.yaml.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/synapse/templates/homeserver.yaml.j2
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ listeners:
       - names: [federation]
         compress: false
 
-federation_domain_whitelist: {{var_synapse_federation_whitelist}}
+federation_domain_whitelist: {{var_synapse_federation_whitelist | to_yaml}}
     
 serve_server_wellknown: true
 
@@ -87,7 +87,9 @@ max_spider_size: "10M"
 enable_registration_captcha: false
 recaptcha_siteverify_api: "https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/siteverify"
 
+{% if var_synapse_registration_shared_secret != None %}
 registration_shared_secret: "{{var_synapse_registration_shared_secret}}"
+{% endif %}
 
 {% if var_synapse_oidc_enable %}
 enable_registration: false
@@ -158,11 +160,11 @@ saml2_config:
 password_config:
    enabled: true
    policy:
-     enabled: {{var_synapse_password_strict_policy}}
+     enabled: {{var_synapse_password_strict_policy | to_yaml}}
 
 email:
   smtp_host: "{{var_synapse_smtp_host}}"
-  smtp_port: {{var_synapse_smtp_port}}
+  smtp_port: {{var_synapse_smtp_port | to_yaml}}
   smtp_user: "{{var_synapse_smtp_username}}"
   smtp_pass: "{{var_synapse_smtp_password}}"
   require_transport_security: true