diff --git a/src/lib/config/config_data.cc b/src/lib/config/config_data.cc
index ebe51cc5a2a11385dd799810980aff454f208fbf..fb5dd75f4e03f668d34c3748e3dc81e859f04042 100644
--- a/src/lib/config/config_data.cc
+++ b/src/lib/config/config_data.cc
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ ConfigData::getItemList(const std::string& identifier, bool recurse) const {
 ConstElementPtr
 ConfigData::getFullConfig() const {
     ElementPtr result = Element::createMap();
-    ConstElementPtr items = getItemList("", true);
+    ConstElementPtr items = getItemList("", false);
     BOOST_FOREACH(ConstElementPtr item, items->listValue()) {
         result->set(item->stringValue(), getValue(item->stringValue()));
     }
diff --git a/src/lib/config/config_data.h b/src/lib/config/config_data.h
index 1be7c7a4bb7a9f4cc30319a16f65c01f5144bfd0..e40600d728dab9ee7032d4df352d282f6c7f4c55 100644
--- a/src/lib/config/config_data.h
+++ b/src/lib/config/config_data.h
@@ -110,11 +110,11 @@ public:
     isc::data::ConstElementPtr getItemList(const std::string& identifier = "",
                                            bool recurse = false) const;
 
-    /// Returns all current configuration settings (both non-default and default).
+    /// Returns a map of the top-level configuration items, as currently
+    /// set or their defaults
+    ///
     /// \return An ElementPtr pointing to a MapElement containing
-    ///         string->value elements, where the string is the
-    ///         full identifier of the configuration option and the
-    ///         value is an ElementPtr with the value.
+    ///         the top-level configuration items
     isc::data::ConstElementPtr getFullConfig() const;
 
 private:
@@ -126,6 +126,6 @@ private:
 }
 #endif
 
-// Local Variables: 
+// Local Variables:
 // mode: c++
-// End: 
+// End:
diff --git a/src/lib/config/tests/config_data_unittests.cc b/src/lib/config/tests/config_data_unittests.cc
index 26a3fc69115be5b58a70b5534480f34474b9c36c..4b83e5c899a3eaa4db960d4d2b8b3f9a0a2cb112 100644
--- a/src/lib/config/tests/config_data_unittests.cc
+++ b/src/lib/config/tests/config_data_unittests.cc
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ TEST(ConfigData, getLocalConfig) {
     ModuleSpec spec2 = moduleSpecFromFile(std::string(TEST_DATA_PATH) + "/spec2.spec");
     ConfigData cd = ConfigData(spec2);
     EXPECT_EQ("{  }", cd.getLocalConfig()->str());
-    
+
     ElementPtr my_config = Element::fromJSON("{ \"item1\": 2 }");
     cd.setLocalConfig(my_config);
     EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 2 }", cd.getLocalConfig()->str());
@@ -141,12 +141,15 @@ TEST(ConfigData, getFullConfig) {
     ModuleSpec spec2 = moduleSpecFromFile(std::string(TEST_DATA_PATH) + "/spec2.spec");
     ConfigData cd = ConfigData(spec2);
 
-    EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 1, \"item2\": 1.1, \"item3\": true, \"item4\": \"test\", \"item5\": [ \"a\", \"b\" ], \"item6/value1\": \"default\", \"item6/value2\": None }", cd.getFullConfig()->str());
+    EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 1, \"item2\": 1.1, \"item3\": true, \"item4\": \"test\", \"item5\": [ \"a\", \"b\" ], \"item6\": {  } }", cd.getFullConfig()->str());
     ElementPtr my_config = Element::fromJSON("{ \"item1\": 2 }");
     cd.setLocalConfig(my_config);
-    EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 2, \"item2\": 1.1, \"item3\": true, \"item4\": \"test\", \"item5\": [ \"a\", \"b\" ], \"item6/value1\": \"default\", \"item6/value2\": None }", cd.getFullConfig()->str());
+    EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 2, \"item2\": 1.1, \"item3\": true, \"item4\": \"test\", \"item5\": [ \"a\", \"b\" ], \"item6\": {  } }", cd.getFullConfig()->str());
     ElementPtr my_config2 = Element::fromJSON("{ \"item6\": { \"value1\": \"a\" } }");
     cd.setLocalConfig(my_config2);
-    EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 1, \"item2\": 1.1, \"item3\": true, \"item4\": \"test\", \"item5\": [ \"a\", \"b\" ], \"item6/value1\": \"a\", \"item6/value2\": None }", cd.getFullConfig()->str());
+    EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 1, \"item2\": 1.1, \"item3\": true, \"item4\": \"test\", \"item5\": [ \"a\", \"b\" ], \"item6\": { \"value1\": \"a\" } }", cd.getFullConfig()->str());
+    ElementPtr my_config3 = Element::fromJSON("{ \"item6\": { \"value2\": 123 } }");
+    cd.setLocalConfig(my_config3);
+    EXPECT_EQ("{ \"item1\": 1, \"item2\": 1.1, \"item3\": true, \"item4\": \"test\", \"item5\": [ \"a\", \"b\" ], \"item6\": { \"value2\": 123 } }", cd.getFullConfig()->str());
 }