diff --git a/hosts/common/default.nix b/hosts/common/default.nix
index 454056c0..43003fd3 100644
--- a/hosts/common/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/common/default.nix
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     ./programs
     ./secrets.nix
     ./ssh.nix
+    ./systemd.nix
     ./users
   ];
 
@@ -31,20 +32,6 @@
   # time.timeZone = "America/Los_Angeles";
   time.timeZone = "Etc/UTC";  # DST is too confusing for me => use a stable timezone
 
-  systemd.extraConfig = ''
-    # DefaultTimeoutStopSec defaults to 90s, and frequently blocks overall system shutdown.
-    # note that the values for the system manager and the user service manager must be set separately.
-    DefaultTimeoutStopSec=25
-  '';
-
-  services.journald.extraConfig = ''
-    # docs: `man journald.conf`
-    # merged journald config is deployed to /etc/systemd/journald.conf
-    [Journal]
-    # disable journal compression because the underlying fs is compressed
-    Compress=no
-  '';
-
   system.activationScripts.nixClosureDiff = {
     supportsDryActivation = true;
     text = ''
diff --git a/hosts/common/systemd.nix b/hosts/common/systemd.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..daad9b84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hosts/common/systemd.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{ ... }:
+{
+  systemd.extraConfig = ''
+    # DefaultTimeoutStopSec defaults to 90s, and frequently blocks overall system shutdown.
+    # note that the values for the system manager and the user service manager must be set separately.
+    DefaultTimeoutStopSec=25
+  '';
+
+  services.journald.extraConfig = ''
+    # docs: `man journald.conf`
+    # merged journald config is deployed to /etc/systemd/journald.conf
+    [Journal]
+    # disable journal compression because the underlying fs is compressed
+    Compress=no
+  '';
+}