diff --git a/ansible/roles/condor/files/condor.service b/ansible/roles/condor/files/condor.service
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d189405b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/roles/condor/files/condor.service
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Condor Distributed High-Throughput-Computing
+After=syslog.target network.target
+Wants=network.target
+
+[Service]
+User=condor
+Group=condor
+EnvironmentFile=-/etc/sysconfig/condor
+ExecStart=/usr/sbin/condor_master -f
+ExecStop=/usr/sbin/condor_off -master
+ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
+Restart=always
+RestartSec=5
+StandardOutput=syslog
+LimitNOFILE=16384
+ControlGroup=/condor
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/ansible/roles/condor/tasks/main.yml b/ansible/roles/condor/tasks/main.yml
index 5d4ca8037..4c3c9622a 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/condor/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/condor/tasks/main.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,15 @@
 
 - name: create cred_dir
   sudo: yes
-  file: path="{{ condor.cred_dir }}" state=directory owner=condor group=condor mode=0755
+  file: path="{{condor.cred_dir}}" state=directory owner=condor group=condor mode=0755
+
+- name: place condor systemd.file so condor doesn't run as root
+  sudo: yes
+  copy: src=condor.service dest=/usr/lib/systemd/system/ owner=root group=root mode=0644
+
+- name: reload systemd
+  sudo: yes
+  shell: "systemctl daemon-reload"
 
 - name: restart condor
   sudo: yes
diff --git a/ansible/roles/de-jex/meta/main.yaml b/ansible/roles/de-jex/meta/main.yaml
index 3c2102149..048236225 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/de-jex/meta/main.yaml
+++ b/ansible/roles/de-jex/meta/main.yaml
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ dependencies:
           - condor
           - condor-submitter
 
-    - role: util-cfg-systemd-unit
-      service_name_short: "{{jex.service_name_short}}"
-      tags:
-          - jex
-    - role: util-cfg-service
-      service_name_short: "{{jex.service_name_short}}"
-      tags:
-          - jex
+    # this errors out, just drop the template in instead.
+    #- role: util-cfg-systemd-unit
+    #  service_name_short: "{{jex.service_name_short}}"
+    #  tags:
+    #      - jex
+    #- role: util-cfg-service
+    #  service_name_short: "{{jex.service_name_short}}"
+    #  tags:
+    #      - jex
diff --git a/ansible/roles/de-jex/tasks/main.yaml b/ansible/roles/de-jex/tasks/main.yaml
index b6e91a731..0e7002437 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/de-jex/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/ansible/roles/de-jex/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 ---
+
+- name: ensure java-1.8.0-openjdk-headless
+  yum: name=java-1.8.0-openjdk-headless state=latest
+  tags:
+    - jex
+
 - name: create /var/log/jex
   file: path=/var/log/jex owner=condor group=condor mode=0777 state=directory
   tags:
@@ -58,3 +64,9 @@
   tags:
     - jex
     - config
+
+- name: place jex.properties
+  template: src=jex.properties.j2 dest=/etc/iplant/de/jex.properties owner=root group=root mode=0644
+  tags:
+    - jex
+    - config
diff --git a/ansible/roles/de-jex/templates/jex.properties.j2 b/ansible/roles/de-jex/templates/jex.properties.j2
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b1b4eadb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/roles/de-jex/templates/jex.properties.j2
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+jar-path         = /usr/local/lib/porklock/porklock-standalone.jar
+porklock-tag     = {{ docker.tag }}
+nfs-base         = {{ jex.nfs_base }}
+irods-base       = {{ irods.home }}
+irods-user       = {{ irods.user }}
+irods-pass       = {{ irods.password }}
+irods-host       = {{ irods.host }}
+irods-port       = {{ irods.port }}
+irods-zone       = {{ irods.zone }}
+irods-resc       = {{ irods.default_resource }}
+icommands-path   = {{ jex.icommands_path }}
+condor-log-path  = /tmp/
+listen-port      = {{ jex.port }}
+filter-files     = .job.ad,.machine.ad,_condor_stderr,_condor_stdout,condor_exec.exe,.chirp_config,.chirp.config,logs/output-last-stdout,logs/output-last-stderr
+run-on-nfs       = false
+request-disk     = {{ jex.request_disk }}
+batch-group      = {{ jex.batch_group }}
+jex-events       = {{ jexevents.base }}
+condor-config    = /etc/condor/condor_config
+path             = /opt/condor/bin/:/usr/bin/:/usr/local/bin/:/bin/
+log-file         = /var/log/jex/jex.log
+log-level        = warn
+log-backup       = 10