diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-base/attributes/default.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-base/attributes/default.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37d8e43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-base/attributes/default.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+node.default["kosmos-base"]["journald"]["system_max_use"] = "256M"
+node.default["kosmos-base"]["journald"]["max_retention_sec"] = "7d"
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-base/recipes/journald_conf.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-base/recipes/journald_conf.rb
index 56ad111..b7744b9 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos-base/recipes/journald_conf.rb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos-base/recipes/journald_conf.rb
@@ -3,15 +3,12 @@
 # Recipe:: journald_conf
 #
 
+service "systemd-journald"
+
 template "/etc/systemd/journald.conf" do
   source "journald.conf.erb"
-  variables system_max_use: "256M",
-            max_retention_sec: "7d"
+  variables system_max_use: node["kosmos-base"]["journald"]["system_max_use"],
+            max_retention_sec: node["kosmos-base"]["journald"]["max_retention_sec"]
   # Restarting journald is required
-  notifies :run, "execute[systemctl restart systemd-journald.service]", :delayed
-end
-
-execute "systemctl restart systemd-journald.service" do
-  command "systemctl restart systemd-journald.service"
-  action :nothing
+  notifies :restart, "service[systemd-journald]", :delayed
 end