diff --git a/Godeps/Godeps.json b/Godeps/Godeps.json
index e509ba1d68c..cd01be6ba5a 100644
--- a/Godeps/Godeps.json
+++ b/Godeps/Godeps.json
@@ -98,6 +98,11 @@
 			"ImportPath": "github.com/coreos/go-semver/semver",
 			"Rev": "6fe83ccda8fb9b7549c9ab4ba47f47858bc950aa"
 		},
+		{
+			"ImportPath": "github.com/coreos/go-systemd/daemon",
+			"Comment": "v2-27-g97e243d",
+			"Rev": "97e243d21a8e232e9d8af38ba2366dfcfceebeba"
+		},
 		{
 			"ImportPath": "github.com/coreos/go-systemd/dbus",
 			"Comment": "v2-27-g97e243d",
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/coreos/go-systemd/daemon/sdnotify.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/coreos/go-systemd/daemon/sdnotify.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b92b1911c12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/coreos/go-systemd/daemon/sdnotify.go
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+// Code forked from Docker project
+package daemon
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"net"
+	"os"
+)
+
+var SdNotifyNoSocket = errors.New("No socket")
+
+// SdNotify sends a message to the init daemon. It is common to ignore the error.
+func SdNotify(state string) error {
+	socketAddr := &net.UnixAddr{
+		Name: os.Getenv("NOTIFY_SOCKET"),
+		Net:  "unixgram",
+	}
+
+	if socketAddr.Name == "" {
+		return SdNotifyNoSocket
+	}
+
+	conn, err := net.DialUnix(socketAddr.Net, nil, socketAddr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer conn.Close()
+
+	_, err = conn.Write([]byte(state))
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
index b55247d7b81..b5ad55535c2 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/tools"
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/util"
 	forked "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/third_party/forked/coreos/go-etcd/etcd"
+	systemd "github.com/coreos/go-systemd/daemon"
 
 	"github.com/coreos/go-etcd/etcd"
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
@@ -448,6 +449,10 @@ func (s *APIServer) Run(_ []string) error {
 						glog.Infof("Using self-signed cert (%s, %s)", s.TLSCertFile, s.TLSPrivateKeyFile)
 					}
 				}
+				// err == systemd.SdNotifyNoSocket when not running on a systemd system
+				if err := systemd.SdNotify("READY=1\n"); err != nil && err != systemd.SdNotifyNoSocket {
+					glog.Errorf("Unable to send systemd daemon sucessful start message: %v\n", err)
+				}
 				if err := secureServer.ListenAndServeTLS(s.TLSCertFile, s.TLSPrivateKeyFile); err != nil {
 					glog.Errorf("Unable to listen for secure (%v); will try again.", err)
 				}
@@ -462,6 +467,12 @@ func (s *APIServer) Run(_ []string) error {
 		WriteTimeout:   ReadWriteTimeout,
 		MaxHeaderBytes: 1 << 20,
 	}
+	if secureLocation == "" {
+		// err == systemd.SdNotifyNoSocket when not running on a systemd system
+		if err := systemd.SdNotify("READY=1\n"); err != nil && err != systemd.SdNotifyNoSocket {
+			glog.Errorf("Unable to send systemd daemon sucessful start message: %v\n", err)
+		}
+	}
 	glog.Infof("Serving insecurely on %s", insecureLocation)
 	glog.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe())
 	return nil
diff --git a/contrib/init/systemd/kube-apiserver.service b/contrib/init/systemd/kube-apiserver.service
index dd915896a61..b9a7609b62f 100644
--- a/contrib/init/systemd/kube-apiserver.service
+++ b/contrib/init/systemd/kube-apiserver.service
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ ExecStart=/usr/bin/kube-apiserver \
 	    $KUBE_ADMISSION_CONTROL \
 	    $KUBE_API_ARGS
 Restart=on-failure
+Type=notify
 LimitNOFILE=65536
 
 [Install]