diff --git a/netkernel/attributes/default.rb b/netkernel/attributes/default.rb
index 39d5afb..3ae5da5 100644
--- a/netkernel/attributes/default.rb
+++ b/netkernel/attributes/default.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 default[:netkernel][:backend][:address] = "localhost"
 default[:netkernel][:backend][:port] = 1060
 
+default[:netkernel][:user] = "netkernel"
+default[:netkernel][:log_path] = "/var/log/netkernel"
+
 # PER INSTALL SETTINGS
 default[:netkernel][:starting_heap] = "128m"
 default[:netkernel][:max_heap] = "128m"
diff --git a/netkernel/metadata.rb b/netkernel/metadata.rb
index 9d99a3c..62efbdb 100644
--- a/netkernel/metadata.rb
+++ b/netkernel/metadata.rb
@@ -4,3 +4,5 @@
 description      "Installs/Configures netkernel"
 long_description IO.read(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'README.rdoc'))
 version          "0.0.2"
+
+supports 'ubuntu', ">= 11.04"
diff --git a/netkernel/recipes/default.rb b/netkernel/recipes/default.rb
index 340bbdf..e66e405 100644
--- a/netkernel/recipes/default.rb
+++ b/netkernel/recipes/default.rb
@@ -80,4 +80,33 @@
   mode "0644"
   owner "root"
   group "root"
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
+
+
+init_script = value_for_platform(
+  ["centos", "redhat", "suse", "fedora" ] => {
+    "default" => "/etc/init.d/netkernel"
+  },
+  ["ubuntu", "debian"] => {
+    "default" => "/etc/init/netkernel.conf"
+  }
+)
+
+template init_script do
+  source "init_script.erb"
+  mode 755
+  owner "root"
+  group "root"
+end
+
+template "/etc/default/netkernel" do
+  source defaults.erb
+  mode 644
+  owner "root"
+  group "root"
+end
+
+service "netkernel" do
+  supports [:restart, :status]
+  action [:enable, :start]
+end
diff --git a/netkernel/templates/default/defaults.erb b/netkernel/templates/default/defaults.erb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a87cd66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/netkernel/templates/default/defaults.erb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+INSTALLPATH='<%= node[:netkernel][:install_path] %>'
+NK_USER='<%= node[:netkernel][:user] %>'
+BACKENDPORT="<%= node[:netkernel][:backend][:port] %>"
+LOG_DIR="<%= node[:netkernel][:log_path] %>"
+
+LIB="$INSTALLPATH/lib"
+EXT="$INSTALLPATH/lib/ext"
+PROPS="-Djava.endorsed.dirs=$LIB/endorsed -Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=org.ten60.netkernel.protocolhandler -Djava.awt.headless=false"
+SUN_PROPS="-Dsun.net.client.defaultConnectTimeout=20000 -Dsun.net.client.defaultReadTimeout=20000"
+PID="-Dten60.pid=1"   #Process id must be set when using 'netkernel' daemon
+STOP_CMD="http://localhost:$BACKENDPORT/tools/shutdown?action2=force"
+POLLURL="http://localhost:$BACKENDPORT"
+    
+read BOOTLOADER_JAR < "$INSTALLPATH/bin/bootjar.cnf" || true
+read JVMSETTINGS < "$INSTALLPATH/bin/jvmsettings.cnf" || true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/netkernel/templates/default/init_script.erb b/netkernel/templates/default/init_script.erb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b06ffc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/netkernel/templates/default/init_script.erb
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# SYSV init script
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/netkernel/templates/ubuntu/init_script.erb b/netkernel/templates/ubuntu/init_script.erb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a621a5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/netkernel/templates/ubuntu/init_script.erb
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# netkernel
+#
+# cron is a standard UNIX program that runs user-specified programs at
+# periodic scheduled times
+
+description     "NetKernel Application Engine"
+
+start on runlevel [2345]
+stop on runlevel [!2345]
+
+respawn
+
+env DEFAULTFILE=/etc/default/netkernel
+kill timeout 60
+
+pre-start script
+    . "$DEFAULTFILE"
+    chown -R $NK_USER $INSTALLPATH || true
+    chown -R $NK_USER $LOG_DIR || true
+end script
+
+script
+    . "$DEFAULTFILE"
+    sudo -u $NK_USER java $JVMSETTINGS $PROP $SUN_PROPS $PID -cp "$BOOTLOADER_JAR" BootLoader "$INSTALLPATH" 2>&1 >/tmp/nk
+end script
+
+post-start script
+    . "$DEFAULTFILE"
+    local starttime=`date +"%s"`
+    while ! wget --tries=1 --timeout=1 --server-response -O - "$POLLURL" 2>&1 | grep -qai " HTTP/1.1 " ; do
+        sleep 3
+        local now=`date +"%s"`
+        if [ $(($now - 50)) -gt $starttime ]; then
+                logger $0 "NK did not start in time (50 seconds)... exiting..."
+                stop 
+                exit 0 
+        fi
+    done
+end script
\ No newline at end of file