diff --git a/docs-xml/smbdotconf/logging/logging.xml b/docs-xml/smbdotconf/logging/logging.xml
index f888c4623e8..039a9656e88 100644
--- a/docs-xml/smbdotconf/logging/logging.xml
+++ b/docs-xml/smbdotconf/logging/logging.xml
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
   <itemizedlist>
     <listitem><para><parameter moreinfo="none">syslog</parameter></para></listitem>
     <listitem><para><parameter moreinfo="none">file</parameter></para></listitem>
+    <listitem><para><parameter moreinfo="none">systemd</parameter></para></listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
 
 </description>
diff --git a/lib/util/debug.c b/lib/util/debug.c
index 7602a515687..81acbb1b33d 100644
--- a/lib/util/debug.c
+++ b/lib/util/debug.c
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ static struct {
 	.fd = 2 /* stderr by default */
 };
 
-#ifdef WITH_SYSLOG
+#if defined(WITH_SYSLOG) || defined(HAVE_SYSTEMD_JOURNAL)
 static int debug_level_to_priority(int level)
 {
 	/*
@@ -174,6 +174,18 @@ static void debug_syslog_log(int msg_level,
 }
 #endif /* WITH_SYSLOG */
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SYSTEMD_JOURNAL
+#include <systemd/sd-journal.h>
+static void debug_systemd_log(int msg_level,
+			      const char *msg, const char *msg_no_nl)
+{
+	sd_journal_send("MESSAGE=%s", msg_no_nl,
+			"PRIORITY=%d", debug_level_to_priority(msg_level),
+			"LEVEL=%d", msg_level,
+			NULL);
+}
+#endif
+
 static struct debug_backend {
 	const char *name;
 	int log_level;
@@ -192,6 +204,13 @@ static struct debug_backend {
 		.log = debug_syslog_log,
 	},
 #endif
+
+#ifdef HAVE_SYSTEMD_JOURNAL
+	{
+		.name = "systemd",
+		.log = debug_systemd_log,
+	},
+#endif
 };
 
 static struct debug_backend *debug_find_backend(const char *name)
diff --git a/lib/util/wscript_build b/lib/util/wscript_build
index b2e406ec8e8..5f89c83a20b 100755
--- a/lib/util/wscript_build
+++ b/lib/util/wscript_build
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ bld.SAMBA_SUBSYSTEM('close-low-fd',
 bld.SAMBA_LIBRARY('samba-debug',
                   source='debug.c',
                   deps='replace time-basic close-low-fd talloc socket-blocking',
+                  public_deps='systemd-journal',
                   local_include=False,
                   private_library=True)
 
diff --git a/lib/util/wscript_configure b/lib/util/wscript_configure
index 8cf77b432ae..0153fb8f67f 100644
--- a/lib/util/wscript_configure
+++ b/lib/util/wscript_configure
@@ -113,3 +113,17 @@ if (conf.CONFIG_SET('HAVE_SYSTEMD_SD_DAEMON_H') and
 else:
     conf.SET_TARGET_TYPE('systemd-daemon', 'EMPTY')
     conf.undefine('HAVE_SYSTEMD')
+
+if Options.options.enable_systemd != False:
+    conf.check_cfg(package='libsystemd-journal', args='--cflags --libs',
+                   msg='Checking for libsystemd-journal',
+                   uselib_store="SYSTEMD-JOURNAL")
+    conf.CHECK_HEADERS('systemd/sd-journal.h', lib='systemd-journal')
+    conf.CHECK_LIB('systemd-journal', shlib=True)
+
+if (conf.CONFIG_SET('HAVE_SYSTEMD_SD_JOURNAL_H') and
+    conf.CONFIG_SET('HAVE_LIBSYSTEMD_JOURNAL')):
+    conf.DEFINE('HAVE_SYSTEMD_JOURNAL', '1')
+else:
+    conf.SET_TARGET_TYPE('systemd-journal', 'EMPTY')
+    conf.undefine('HAVE_SYSTEMD_JOURNAL')