diff --git a/cookbooks/consul/files/etc/systemd/system/consul.service b/cookbooks/consul/files/etc/systemd/system/consul.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae0cb84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cookbooks/consul/files/etc/systemd/system/consul.service
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+[Unit]
+Description="HashiCorp Consul - A service mesh solution"
+Documentation=https://www.consul.io/
+Requires=network-online.target
+After=network-online.target
+ConditionFileNotEmpty=/etc/consul.d/consul.hcl
+
+[Service]
+User=consul
+Group=consul
+ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/find /var/log/consul/ -type f -delete
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/consul agent -config-dir=/etc/consul.d/
+ExecReload=/bin/kill --signal HUP $MAINPID
+KillMode=process
+KillSignal=SIGTERM
+Restart=on-failure
+LimitNOFILE=65536
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/cookbooks/consul/setup.rb b/cookbooks/consul/setup.rb
index 6749ba3..2edc097 100644
--- a/cookbooks/consul/setup.rb
+++ b/cookbooks/consul/setup.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ template '/etc/consul.d/consul.hcl' do
            )
 
   source "templates/etc/consul.d/#{SRC}"
+
+  notifies :restart, 'service[consul]'
 end
 
 directory '/var/log/consul/' do
@@ -23,12 +25,24 @@ directory '/var/log/consul/' do
   mode '0755'
 end
 
+remote_file '/etc/systemd/system/consul.service' do
+  owner 'root'
+  group 'root'
+  mode '0644'
+
+  notifies :restart, 'service[consul]'
+end
+
 remote_file '/etc/consul.d/service-consul.json' do
   owner 'consul'
   group 'consul'
   mode '644'
 end
 
+service 'consul' do
+  action [:enable, :start]
+end
+
 # iptables settings here:
 %w( 8300/tcp 8301/tcp 8301/udp 8500/tcp ).each do |port|
   execute "ufw allow #{port}" do