diff --git a/debian/bootstrap.sh b/debian/bootstrap.sh
index e514ab1a94..74ed4cb1fe 100755
--- a/debian/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/debian/bootstrap.sh
@@ -1324,8 +1324,14 @@ for x in postinst postrm preinst prerm; do
   cp -a freeswitch.$x freeswitch-all.$x
 done
 cp -a freeswitch-doc.docs freeswitch-all.docs
-#cp -a freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.service freeswitch-all.freeswitch.service
-cp -a freeswitch-sysvinit.freeswitch.default freeswitch-all.freeswitch.default
+
+cp -a freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.service freeswitch-all.freeswitch.service
+cp -a freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.tmpfile freeswitch-all.freeswitch.tmpfile
+cp -a freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.default freeswitch-all.freeswitch.default
+
+cp -a freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.default freeswitch-sysvinit.freeswitch.default 
+
+# TODO: FS-7928 need to add a condition and skip this for jessie and onward
 cp -a freeswitch-sysvinit.freeswitch.init freeswitch-all.freeswitch.init
 
 echo "Generating additional lintian overrides..." >&2
diff --git a/debian/freeswitch-sysvinit.freeswitch.default b/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.default
similarity index 100%
rename from debian/freeswitch-sysvinit.freeswitch.default
rename to debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.default
diff --git a/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.service b/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.service
index 5a46d8731c..0a4380d8a4 100644
--- a/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.service
+++ b/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.service
@@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ After=syslog.target network.target local-fs.target
 ; service
 Type=forking
 PIDFile=/run/freeswitch/freeswitch.pid
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/freeswitch -ncwait -nonat
+Environment="DAEMON_OPTS=-nonat"
+EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/freeswitch
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/freeswitch -u freeswitch -g freeswitch -ncwait ${DAEMON_OPTS}
 TimeoutSec=45s
 Restart=always
 ; exec
-RuntimeDirectory=freeswitch
-RuntimeDirectoryMode=0755
-User=freeswitch
-Group=freeswitch
+User=root
+Group=daemon
 LimitCORE=infinity
 LimitNOFILE=100000
 LimitNPROC=60000
@@ -28,5 +28,27 @@ CPUSchedulingPolicy=rr
 CPUSchedulingPriority=89
 UMask=0007
 
+; alternatives which you can enforce by placing a unit drop-in into
+; /etc/systemd/system/freeswitch.service.d/*.conf:
+;
+; User=freeswitch
+; Group=freeswitch
+; ExecStart=
+; ExecStart=/usr/bin/freeswitch -ncwait -nonat -rp
+;
+; empty ExecStart is required to flush the list.
+;
+; if your filesystem supports extended attributes, execute
+;   setcap 'cap_net_bind_service,cap_sys_nice=+ep' /usr/bin/freeswitch
+; this will also allow socket binding on low ports
+;
+; otherwise, remove the -rp option from ExecStart and
+; add these lines to give real-time priority to the process:
+;
+; PermissionsStartOnly=true
+; ExecStartPost=/bin/chrt -f -p 1 $MAINPID
+;
+; execute "systemctl daemon-reload" after editing the unit files.
+
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.tmpfile b/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.tmpfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..baea7b8113
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.tmpfile
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+d /var/run/freeswitch 0755 freeswitch freeswitch - -
diff --git a/debian/freeswitch-systemd.install b/debian/freeswitch-systemd.install
deleted file mode 100644
index d647282ecd..0000000000
--- a/debian/freeswitch-systemd.install
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/lib/systemd/system/freeswitch.service
diff --git a/debian/freeswitch.postinst b/debian/freeswitch.postinst
index c08fd07e31..01d8b93c0d 100644
--- a/debian/freeswitch.postinst
+++ b/debian/freeswitch.postinst
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ case "$1" in
       mkdir -p /etc/freeswitch/tls/
       chown freeswitch:freeswitch /etc/freeswitch/tls
     fi
+    if [ -x /bin/systemctl -a x`systemctl is-enabled freeswitch` != "xenabled" ]; then
+       systemctl enable freeswitch
+    fi
     ;;
   abort-upgrade|abort-remove|abort-deconfigure)
     ;;
diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index b2e43d68d0..337a913eb3 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -98,12 +98,11 @@ override_dh_strip:
 override_dh_auto_install:
 	dh_auto_install
 	dh_auto_install -- -C libs/esl pymod-install
-	mkdir -p debian/tmp/lib/systemd/system
-	install -m0644 debian/freeswitch-systemd.freeswitch.service debian/tmp/lib/systemd/system/freeswitch.service
 	rm -f debian/tmp/usr/share/freeswitch/grammar/model/communicator/COPYING
 
 override_dh_installinit:
 	dh_installinit -pfreeswitch-sysvinit --name=freeswitch
+	dh_installinit -pfreeswitch-systemd --name=freeswitch
 	dh_installinit -pfreeswitch-all --name=freeswitch
 
 override_dh_makeshlibs: