diff --git a/templates/upstart.erb b/templates/upstart.erb
index f49ec6f..1281da7 100644
--- a/templates/upstart.erb
+++ b/templates/upstart.erb
@@ -12,15 +12,18 @@ respawn
 pre-start script
     chdir $EPHOME
     mkdir $EPLOGS                              ||true
-    chown $EPUSER:admin $EPLOGS                ||true
+    chown -R $EPUSER:admin $EPLOGS             ||true
     chmod 0755 $EPLOGS                         ||true
     chown -R $EPUSER:admin $EPHOME/var         ||true
     bin/installDeps.sh >> $EPLOGS/error.log || { stop; exit 1; }
 end script
 
+setuid <%= @ep_user %>
+setgid <%= @ep_user %>
+limit nofile 8192 16384
 script
   cd $EPHOME
-  exec su -s /bin/sh -c 'exec "$0" "$@"' $EPUSER -- /usr/local/bin/node --stack_size=1968 node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite/node/server.js \
+  /usr/local/bin/node --stack_size=1968 node_modules/ep_etherpad-lite/node/server.js \
                         >> $EPLOGS/access.log \
                         2>> $EPLOGS/error.log
 end script