diff --git a/store/jsondb/jsondb.go b/store/jsondb/jsondb.go
index 3bebf7f..765cb0b 100644
--- a/store/jsondb/jsondb.go
+++ b/store/jsondb/jsondb.go
@@ -555,7 +555,7 @@ func (o *JsonDB) GetServers() ([]model.Server, error) {
 	var servers []model.Server
 	results, err := o.conn.ReadAll("servers")
 	if err != nil {
-		if err == scribble.ErrMissingCollection {
+		if isMissingCollectionErr(err) {
 			return servers, nil
 		}
 		return servers, err
@@ -570,6 +570,17 @@ func (o *JsonDB) GetServers() ([]model.Server, error) {
 	return servers, nil
 }
 
+// isMissingCollectionErr reports whether err from scribble.ReadAll just
+// means "this collection doesn't exist yet" (nothing written there so
+// far). scribble only returns its own ErrMissingCollection when the
+// collection name itself is empty - if the collection's directory simply
+// hasn't been created yet, ReadAll instead returns a raw os.IsNotExist
+// error, which must be treated the same way (empty collection, not a
+// real failure).
+func isMissingCollectionErr(err error) bool {
+	return err == scribble.ErrMissingCollection || os.IsNotExist(err)
+}
+
 // validateServerID checks a server ID before it is ever used as a jsondb
 // record key, shared by every server-scoped store method below.
 func validateServerID(serverID string) error {
@@ -686,7 +697,7 @@ func (o *JsonDB) GetFirewallRules(serverID string) ([]model.FirewallRule, error)
 	rules := make([]model.FirewallRule, 0)
 	records, err := o.conn.ReadAll("firewall_rules")
 	if err != nil {
-		if err == scribble.ErrMissingCollection {
+		if isMissingCollectionErr(err) {
 			return rules, nil
 		}
 		return nil, err
@@ -742,7 +753,7 @@ func (o *JsonDB) GetIPListEntries() ([]model.IPListEntry, error) {
 	entries := make([]model.IPListEntry, 0)
 	records, err := o.conn.ReadAll("ip_list_entries")
 	if err != nil {
-		if err == scribble.ErrMissingCollection {
+		if isMissingCollectionErr(err) {
 			return entries, nil
 		}
 		return nil, err