diff --git a/attributes/default.rb b/attributes/default.rb
index efb03c4b..b1f22dd3 100644
--- a/attributes/default.rb
+++ b/attributes/default.rb
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@
   default['consul']['service_user'] = 'root'
   default['consul']['service_group'] = 'root'
 end
+default['consul']['system_account'] = false
 
 default['consul']['ports'] = {
   'dns'      => 8600,
diff --git a/recipes/_service.rb b/recipes/_service.rb
index 37c573d1..6c1e3830 100644
--- a/recipes/_service.rb
+++ b/recipes/_service.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
   username consul_user
   home '/dev/null'
   shell '/bin/false'
+  system node['consul']['system_account']
   comment 'consul service user'
 end
 
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@
   not_if { consul_group == 'root' }
   group_name consul_group
   members consul_user
+  system node['consul']['system_account']
   append true
 end
 
@@ -248,6 +250,12 @@
     reload_command "'#{node['runit']['sv_bin']}' hup consul"
   end
 when 'systemd'
+  template node['consul']['etc_config_dir'] do
+    source 'consul-sysconfig.erb'
+    mode 0644
+    notifies :create, "template[/etc/systemd/system/consul.service]", :immediately
+  end
+
   template '/etc/systemd/system/consul.service' do
     source 'consul-systemd.erb'
     mode 0644
diff --git a/templates/default/consul-systemd.erb b/templates/default/consul-systemd.erb
index a591784a..07d403e7 100644
--- a/templates/default/consul-systemd.erb
+++ b/templates/default/consul-systemd.erb
@@ -6,12 +6,13 @@ After=basic.target network.target
 [Service]
 User=<%= node['consul']['service_user'] %>
 Group=<%= node['consul']['service_group'] %>
+EnvironmentFile=-<%= node['consul']['etc_config_dir'] %>
 ExecStart=<%= Chef::Consul.active_binary(node) %> agent \
   -config-dir <%= node['consul']['config_dir'] %>
 ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
 KillMode=process
 Restart=on-failure
-RestartSec=42s
+RestartSec=15s
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target