diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/AuthMemCookie.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/AuthMemCookie.php
index 4a49edf5dcf645b799014e53698392c2429d4c0c..e15e0b9b46488a684a1cb11f8acf76ba90921f0e 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/AuthMemCookie.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/AuthMemCookie.php
@@ -47,10 +47,10 @@ class SimpleSAML_AuthMemCookie {
 	/**
 	 * Retrieve the login method which should be used to authenticate the user.
 	 *
-	 * @return  The login type which should be used for Auth MemCookie.
+	 * @return string  The login type which should be used for Auth MemCookie.
 	 */
 	public function getLoginMethod() {
-		$loginMethod = $this->amcConfig->getValue('loginmethod', 'saml2');
+		$loginMethod = $this->amcConfig->getString('loginmethod', 'saml2');
 		$supportedLogins = array(
 			'saml2',
 			'shib13',
@@ -66,10 +66,10 @@ class SimpleSAML_AuthMemCookie {
 	/**
 	 * This function retrieves the name of the cookie from the configuration.
 	 *
-	 * @return The name of the cookie.
+	 * @return string  The name of the cookie.
 	 */
 	public function getCookieName() {
-		$cookieName = $this->amcConfig->getValue('cookiename', 'AuthMemCookie');
+		$cookieName = $this->amcConfig->getString('cookiename', 'AuthMemCookie');
 		if(!is_string($cookieName) || strlen($cookieName) === 0) {
 			throw new Exception('Configuration option \'cookiename\' contains an invalid value. This option should be a string.');
 		}
@@ -81,13 +81,10 @@ class SimpleSAML_AuthMemCookie {
 	/**
 	 * This function retrieves the name of the attribute which contains the username from the configuration.
 	 *
-	 * @return The name of the attribute which contains the username.
+	 * @return string  The name of the attribute which contains the username.
 	 */
 	public function getUsernameAttr() {
-		$usernameAttr = $this->amcConfig->getValue('username');
-		if($usernameAttr === NULL) {
-			throw new Exception('Missing required configuration option \'username\' in authmemcookie.php.');
-		}
+		$usernameAttr = $this->amcConfig->getString('username', NULL);
 
 		return $usernameAttr;
 	}
@@ -96,10 +93,10 @@ class SimpleSAML_AuthMemCookie {
 	/**
 	 * This function retrieves the name of the attribute which contains the groups from the configuration.
 	 *
-	 * @return The name of the attribute which contains the groups.
+	 * @return string  The name of the attribute which contains the groups.
 	 */
 	public function getGroupsAttr() {
-		$groupsAttr = $this->amcConfig->getValue('groups');
+		$groupsAttr = $this->amcConfig->getString('groups', NULL);
 
 		return $groupsAttr;
 	}
@@ -108,21 +105,12 @@ class SimpleSAML_AuthMemCookie {
 	/**
 	 * This function creates and initializes a Memcache object from our configuration.
 	 *
-	 * @return A Memcache object initialized from our configuration.
+	 * @return Memcache  A Memcache object initialized from our configuration.
 	 */
 	public function getMemcache() {
 
-		$memcacheHost = $this->amcConfig->getValue('memcache.host', '127.0.0.1');
-		if(!is_string($memcacheHost)) {
-			throw new Exception('Invalid value of the \'memcache.host\' configuration option. This option' .
-					    ' should be a string with a hostname or a string with an IP address.');
-		}
-
-		$memcachePort = $this->amcConfig->getValue('memcache.port', 11211);
-		if(!is_int($memcachePort)) {
-			throw new Exception('Invalid value of the \'memcache.port\' configuration option. This option' .
-					    ' should be an integer.');
-		}
+		$memcacheHost = $this->amcConfig->getString('memcache.host', '127.0.0.1');
+		$memcachePort = $this->amcConfig->getInteger('memcache.port', 11211);
 
 		$memcache = new Memcache;