diff --git a/docs/reference/setup/repositories.asciidoc b/docs/reference/setup/repositories.asciidoc
index 964913be94a9f..5e1f5eeb67147 100644
--- a/docs/reference/setup/repositories.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/setup/repositories.asciidoc
@@ -51,13 +51,22 @@ Run apt-get update and the repository is ready for use. You can install it with:
 sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install elasticsearch
 --------------------------------------------------
 
-Configure Elasticsearch to automatically start during bootup:
+Configure Elasticsearch to automatically start during bootup. If your
+distribution is using SysV init, then you will need to run:
 
 [source,sh]
 --------------------------------------------------
 sudo update-rc.d elasticsearch defaults 95 10
 --------------------------------------------------
 
+Otherwise if your distribution is using systemd:
+
+[source,sh]
+--------------------------------------------------
+sudo /bin/systemctl daemon-reload
+sudo /bin/systemctl enable elasticsearch.service
+--------------------------------------------------
+
 [float]
 === YUM
 
diff --git a/src/packaging/common/systemd/elasticsearch.service b/src/packaging/common/systemd/elasticsearch.service
index 7a4f156783ef8..3c31a8d6674c4 100644
--- a/src/packaging/common/systemd/elasticsearch.service
+++ b/src/packaging/common/systemd/elasticsearch.service
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ ExecStart=${packaging.elasticsearch.bin.dir}/elasticsearch \
                                                 -Des.default.config=$CONF_FILE \
                                                 -Des.default.path.conf=$CONF_DIR
 
+# Connects standard output to /dev/null
+StandardOutput=null
+
+# Connects standard error to journal
+StandardError=journal
+
 # When a JVM receives a SIGTERM signal it exits with code 143
 SuccessExitStatus=143
 
diff --git a/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/50_systemd.bats b/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/50_systemd.bats
index cc15237357761..addd4ff1ac7f4 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/50_systemd.bats
+++ b/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/50_systemd.bats
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ setup() {
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 
     wait_for_elasticsearch_status
+
+    assert_file_exist "/var/run/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.pid"
 }
 
 @test "[SYSTEMD] start (running)" {