diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index bc33865..79206e0 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -18,16 +18,30 @@ almanach_version: 4.0.9
 almanach_collector_program_name: almanach-collector
 almanach_api_program_name: almanach-api
 
-almanach_service_names:
-  - "almanach-api"
-  - "almanach-collector"
+almanach_venv_tag: untagged
+almanach_bin: "/openstack/venvs/almanach-{{ almanach_venv_tag }}/bin"
 
-almanach_requires_apt_packages:
-  - python3-pip
+almanach_services:
+  almanach-api:
+    group: almanach_all
+    service_name: almanach-api
+    init_config_overrides: "{{ almanach_api_init_config_overrides }}"
+    start_order: 1
+    execstarts: "{{ almanach_bin }}/almanach-api"
+  almanach-collector:
+    group: almanach_all
+    service_name: almanach-collector
+    init_config_overrides: "{{ almanach_collector_init_config_overrides }}"
+    start_order: 2
+    execstarts: "{{ almanach_bin }}/almanach-collector"
 
 almanach_requires_pip_packages:
   - virtualenv
 
+almanach_pip_packages:
+  - "almanach=={{ almanach_version }}"
+  - systemd-python
+
 almanach_system_user_name: almanach
 almanach_system_group_name: almanach
 almanach_system_shell: /bin/false
@@ -36,8 +50,6 @@ almanach_system_comment: almanach system user
 almanach_log_dir: /var/log/almanach
 almanach_log_file: /var/log/almanach/almanach.log
 
-almanach_app_dir: /opt/almanach
-
 almanach_config_dir: /etc/almanach
 almanach_config_file: /etc/almanach/almanach.conf
 almanach_logrotate_config_file: /etc/logrotate.d/almanach
diff --git a/handlers/main.yml b/handlers/main.yml
index 042d3b7..f941101 100644
--- a/handlers/main.yml
+++ b/handlers/main.yml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 
 - name: Restart almanach services
   systemd:
-    name: "{{ item }}"
+    name: "{{ item.service_name }}"
     state: "restarted"
-  with_items: "{{ almanach_service_names }}"
+  with_items: "{{ filtered_almanach_services }}"
   failed_when: false
diff --git a/tasks/almanach_init.yml b/tasks/almanach_init.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 05b9be3..0000000
--- a/tasks/almanach_init.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
----
-# Copyright 2016, Internap Inc.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-- include: almanach_init_systemd.yml
-  vars:
-    program_name: "{{ almanach_api_program_name }}"
-    service_name: "almanach-api"
-    system_user: "{{ almanach_system_user_name }}"
-    system_group: "{{ almanach_system_group_name }}"
-    init_config_overrides: "{{ almanach_api_init_config_overrides }}"
-
-- include: almanach_init_systemd.yml
-  vars:
-    program_name: "{{ almanach_collector_program_name }}"
-    service_name: "almanach-collector"
-    system_user: "{{ almanach_system_user_name }}"
-    system_group: "{{ almanach_system_group_name }}"
-    init_config_overrides: "{{ almanach_collector_init_config_overrides }}"
diff --git a/tasks/almanach_init_systemd.yml b/tasks/almanach_init_systemd.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index e74e8fd..0000000
--- a/tasks/almanach_init_systemd.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
----
-# Copyright 2016, Internap Inc.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-- name: Place the systemd init script
-  template:
-    src: "almanach-systemd-init.j2"
-    dest: "/etc/systemd/system/{{ program_name }}.service"
-    mode: "0644"
-    owner: "root"
-    group: "root"
-  notify:
-    - Restart almanach services
diff --git a/tasks/almanach_install.yml b/tasks/almanach_install.yml
index b990871..bd8dc2c 100644
--- a/tasks/almanach_install.yml
+++ b/tasks/almanach_install.yml
@@ -13,20 +13,45 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-- name: Update APT index
-  apt: update_cache=yes
-  become: True
-
 - name: Install apt packages
-  apt:
+  package:
     name: "{{ almanach_requires_apt_packages | join(' ') }}"
     state: present
+    update_cache: yes
+  register: install_packages
+  until: install_packages is success
+  retries: 5
+  delay: 2
+
+# NOTE(cloudnull): This role has no "developer_mode" as such the developer
+#                  packages are simply installed.
+- name: Install developer apt packages
+  package:
+    name: "{{ almanach_developer_mode_distro_packages }}"
+    state: present
+    update_cache: yes
+  register: install_packages
+  until: install_packages is success
+  retries: 5
+  delay: 2
 
 - name: Install pip packages
   pip:
     name: "{{ almanach_requires_pip_packages }}"
     state: present
     executable: pip3
+  register: install_packages
+  until: install_packages is success
+  retries: 5
+  delay: 2
 
-- name: Install Almanach
-  pip: name=almanach version={{ almanach_version }} virtualenv={{ almanach_app_dir }} virtualenv_python=python3
+- name: Install pip packages
+  pip:
+    name: "{{ almanach_pip_packages }}"
+    state: present
+    virtualenv: "/openstack/venvs/almanach-{{ almanach_venv_tag }}"
+    virtualenv_python: "python3"
+  register: install_packages
+  until: install_packages is success
+  retries: 5
+  delay: 2
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index 8064b72..8d8045f 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -24,19 +24,6 @@
   tags:
     - always
 
-- name: Check init system
-  command: cat /proc/1/comm
-  changed_when: false
-  register: _pid1_name
-  tags:
-    - always
-
-- name: Set the name of pid1
-  set_fact:
-    pid1_name: "{{ _pid1_name.stdout }}"
-  tags:
-    - always
-
 - include: almanach_pre_install.yml
   tags:
     - almanach-install
@@ -50,6 +37,30 @@
     - almanach-install
     - almanach-config
 
-- include: almanach_init.yml
+- name: Run the systemd service role
+  include_role:
+    name: systemd_service
+    private: true
+  vars:
+    systemd_user_name: "{{ almanach_system_user_name }}"
+    systemd_group_name: "{{ almanach_system_group_name }}"
+    systemd_tempd_prefix: openstack
+    systemd_slice_name: almanach
+    systemd_lock_path: /var/lock/almanach
+    systemd_CPUAccounting: true
+    systemd_BlockIOAccounting: true
+    systemd_MemoryAccounting: true
+    systemd_TasksAccounting: true
+    systemd_services:
+      - service_name: "{{ service_var.service_name }}"
+        enabled: yes
+        state: started
+        execstarts: "{{ service_var.execstarts }}"
+        execreloads: "{{ service_var.execreloads | default([]) }}"
+        config_overrides: "{{ service_var.init_config_overrides }}"
+  with_items: "{{ filtered_almanach_services }}"
+  loop_control:
+    loop_var: service_var
   tags:
-    - almanach-install
+    - almanach-config
+    - systemd-service
diff --git a/templates/almanach-systemd-init.j2 b/templates/almanach-systemd-init.j2
deleted file mode 100644
index 24ed015..0000000
--- a/templates/almanach-systemd-init.j2
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-# {{ ansible_managed }}
-
-[Unit]
-Description=Almanach api openstack service
-After=syslog.target
-After=network.target
-
-[Service]
-Type=simple
-EnvironmentFile=/etc/environment
-User={{ system_user }}
-Group={{ system_group }}
-
-ExecStart={{ almanach_app_dir }}/bin/{{ program_name }} --config-file={{ almanach_config_file }} --log-file={{ almanach_log_file }}
-
-# Give a reasonable amount of time for the server to start up/shut down
-TimeoutSec=120
-Restart=on-failure
-RestartSec=2
-
-# This creates a specific slice which all services will operate from
-#  The accounting options give us the ability to see resource usage through
-#  the `systemd-cgtop` command.
-Slice=almanach.slice
-CPUAccounting=true
-BlockIOAccounting=true
-MemoryAccounting=false
-TasksAccounting=true
-
-[Install]
-WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/templates/almanach.conf.j2 b/templates/almanach.conf.j2
index 6aeddca..f4fe0bd 100644
--- a/templates/almanach.conf.j2
+++ b/templates/almanach.conf.j2
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 [DEFAULT]
+use_journal = True
 
 [api]
 bind_ip = {{ almanach_bind_ip }}
diff --git a/vars/main.yml b/vars/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29ef4b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vars/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+---
+# Copyright 2018, Rackspace US, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+#
+# Compile a list of the services on a host based on whether
+# the host is in the host group and the service is enabled.
+# The service list is provided in the defined start order.
+#
+filtered_almanach_services: |-
+  {% set services = [] %}
+  {% for key, value in almanach_services.items() %}
+  {%   if (value['group'] in group_names) and
+          (('condition' not in value) or
+           ('condition' in value and value['condition'])) %}
+  {%     set _ = value.update({'service_key': key}) %}
+  {%     set _ = services.append(value) %}
+  {%   endif %}
+  {% endfor %}
+  {{ services | sort(attribute='start_order') }}
diff --git a/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml b/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 6bee34f..0000000
--- a/vars/ubuntu-14.04.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
----
-# Copyright 2016, Internap Inc.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-## APT Cache options
-cache_timeout: 600
diff --git a/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml b/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
index 6bee34f..035b146 100644
--- a/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
+++ b/vars/ubuntu-16.04.yml
@@ -15,3 +15,11 @@
 
 ## APT Cache options
 cache_timeout: 600
+
+almanach_requires_apt_packages:
+  - python3-pip
+
+almanach_developer_mode_distro_packages:
+  - build-essential
+  - libsystemd-dev
+  - pkg-config