diff --git a/planetstack/observer/error_mapper.py b/planetstack/observer/error_mapper.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7daa59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/planetstack/observer/error_mapper.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+from planetstack.config import Config
+from util.logger import Logger, logging, logger
+
+class ErrorMapper:
+	def __init__(self, error_map_file):
+		self.error_map = {}
+		try:
+			error_map_lines = open(error_map_file).read().splitlines()
+			for l in error_map_lines:
+				if (not l.startswith('#')):
+					splits = l.split('->')
+					k,v = map(lambda i:i.rstrip(),splits)
+					self.error_map[k]=v
+		except:
+			logging.info('Could not read error map')
+
+
+	def map(self, error):
+		return self.error_map[error]
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/planetstack/observer/syncstep.py b/planetstack/observer/syncstep.py
index c41628a..7e56c5b 100644
--- a/planetstack/observer/syncstep.py
+++ b/planetstack/observer/syncstep.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 from planetstack.config import Config
 from util.logger import Logger, logging
+from observer.steps import *
+from observer.error_mapper import error_mapper
 
 logger = Logger(level=logging.INFO)
 
@@ -33,6 +35,8 @@
         """
         dependencies = []
         self.driver = args.get('driver')
+        self.error_map = args.get('error_map')
+
         try:
             self.soft_deadline = int(self.get_prop('soft_deadline_seconds'))
         except:
@@ -60,8 +64,15 @@
                 self.sync_record(o)
                 o.enacted = datetime.now() # Is this the same timezone? XXX
                 o.save(update_fields=['enacted'])
-            except:
-                logger.log_exc("sync step %s failed!" % self.__name__)
+            except Exception,e:
+                try:
+                    o.backend_status = self.error_map.map(str(e))
+                except:
+                    o.backend_status = str(e)
+
+                o.save(update_fields=['backend_status'])
+
+                logger.log_exc("sync step failed!")
                 failed.append(o)
 
         return failed