diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/ceph.nix b/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/ceph.nix
index 656a2d21b868..543a7b25d5d6 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/ceph.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/network-filesystems/ceph.nix
@@ -9,12 +9,14 @@ let
   expandCamelCase = replaceStrings upperChars (map (s: " ${s}") lowerChars);
   expandCamelCaseAttrs = mapAttrs' (name: value: nameValuePair (expandCamelCase name) value);
 
-  makeServices = (daemonType: daemonIds: extraServiceConfig:
+  makeServices = (daemonType: daemonIds:
     mkMerge (map (daemonId:
-      { "ceph-${daemonType}-${daemonId}" = makeService daemonType daemonId cfg.global.clusterName pkgs.ceph extraServiceConfig; })
+      { "ceph-${daemonType}-${daemonId}" = makeService daemonType daemonId cfg.global.clusterName pkgs.ceph; })
       daemonIds));
 
-  makeService = (daemonType: daemonId: clusterName: ceph: extraServiceConfig: {
+  makeService = (daemonType: daemonId: clusterName: ceph:
+    let
+      stateDirectory = "ceph/${if daemonType == "rgw" then "radosgw" else daemonType}/${clusterName}-${daemonId}"; in {
     enable = true;
     description = "Ceph ${builtins.replaceStrings lowerChars upperChars daemonType} daemon ${daemonId}";
     after = [ "network-online.target" "time-sync.target" ] ++ optional (daemonType == "osd") "ceph-mon.target";
@@ -22,6 +24,11 @@ let
     partOf = [ "ceph-${daemonType}.target" ];
     wantedBy = [ "ceph-${daemonType}.target" ];
 
+    path = [ pkgs.getopt ];
+
+    # Don't start services that are not yet initialized
+    unitConfig.ConditionPathExists = "/var/lib/${stateDirectory}/keyring";
+
     serviceConfig = {
       LimitNOFILE = 1048576;
       LimitNPROC = 1048576;
@@ -34,22 +41,22 @@ let
       Restart = "on-failure";
       StartLimitBurst = "5";
       StartLimitInterval = "30min";
+      StateDirectory = stateDirectory;
+      User = "ceph";
+      Group = if daemonType == "osd" then "disk" else "ceph";
       ExecStart = ''${ceph.out}/bin/${if daemonType == "rgw" then "radosgw" else "ceph-${daemonType}"} \
-                    -f --cluster ${clusterName} --id ${daemonId} --setuser ceph \
-                    --setgroup ${if daemonType == "osd" then "disk" else "ceph"}'';
-    } // extraServiceConfig
-      // optionalAttrs (daemonType == "osd") { ExecStartPre = ''${ceph.lib}/libexec/ceph/ceph-osd-prestart.sh \
-                                                              --id ${daemonId} --cluster ${clusterName}''; };
-    } // optionalAttrs (builtins.elem daemonType [ "mds" "mon" "rgw" "mgr" ]) {
-      preStart = ''
-        daemonPath="/var/lib/ceph/${if daemonType == "rgw" then "radosgw" else daemonType}/${clusterName}-${daemonId}"
-        if [ ! -d $daemonPath ]; then
-          mkdir -m 755 -p $daemonPath
-          chown -R ceph:ceph $daemonPath
-        fi
-      '';
-    } // optionalAttrs (daemonType == "osd") { path = [ pkgs.getopt ]; }
-  );
+                    -f --cluster ${clusterName} --id ${daemonId}'';
+    } // optionalAttrs (daemonType == "osd") {
+      ExecStartPre = ''${ceph.lib}/libexec/ceph/ceph-osd-prestart.sh --id ${daemonId} --cluster ${clusterName}'';
+      StartLimitBurst = "30";
+      RestartSec = "20s";
+      PrivateDevices = "no"; # osd needs disk access
+    } // optionalAttrs ( daemonType == "mon") {
+      RestartSec = "10";
+    } // optionalAttrs (lib.elem daemonType ["mgr" "mds"]) {
+      StartLimitBurst = "3";
+    };
+  });
 
   makeTarget = (daemonType:
     {
@@ -58,6 +65,7 @@ let
         partOf = [ "ceph.target" ];
         wantedBy = [ "ceph.target" ];
         before = [ "ceph.target" ];
+        unitConfig.StopWhenUnneeded = true;
       };
     }
   );
@@ -377,22 +385,22 @@ in
 
     systemd.services = let
       services = []
-        ++ optional cfg.mon.enable (makeServices "mon" cfg.mon.daemons { RestartSec = "10"; })
-        ++ optional cfg.mds.enable (makeServices "mds" cfg.mds.daemons { StartLimitBurst = "3"; })
-        ++ optional cfg.osd.enable (makeServices "osd" cfg.osd.daemons { StartLimitBurst = "30";
-                                                                         RestartSec = "20s";
-                                                                         PrivateDevices = "no"; # osd needs disk access
-                                                                       })
-        ++ optional cfg.rgw.enable (makeServices "rgw" cfg.rgw.daemons { })
-        ++ optional cfg.mgr.enable (makeServices "mgr" cfg.mgr.daemons { StartLimitBurst = "3"; });
+        ++ optional cfg.mon.enable (makeServices "mon" cfg.mon.daemons)
+        ++ optional cfg.mds.enable (makeServices "mds" cfg.mds.daemons)
+        ++ optional cfg.osd.enable (makeServices "osd" cfg.osd.daemons)
+        ++ optional cfg.rgw.enable (makeServices "rgw" cfg.rgw.daemons)
+        ++ optional cfg.mgr.enable (makeServices "mgr" cfg.mgr.daemons);
       in
         mkMerge services;
 
     systemd.targets = let
       targets = [
-        { ceph = { description = "Ceph target allowing to start/stop all ceph service instances at once";
-                     wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ]; }; }
-      ] ++ optional cfg.mon.enable (makeTarget "mon")
+        { ceph = {
+          description = "Ceph target allowing to start/stop all ceph service instances at once";
+          wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
+          unitConfig.StopWhenUnneeded = true;
+        }; } ]
+        ++ optional cfg.mon.enable (makeTarget "mon")
         ++ optional cfg.mds.enable (makeTarget "mds")
         ++ optional cfg.osd.enable (makeTarget "osd")
         ++ optional cfg.rgw.enable (makeTarget "rgw")
@@ -401,7 +409,11 @@ in
         mkMerge targets;
 
     systemd.tmpfiles.rules = [
+      "d /etc/ceph - ceph ceph - -"
       "d /run/ceph 0770 ceph ceph -"
-    ];
+      "d /var/lib/ceph - ceph ceph - -"]
+    ++ optionals cfg.mgr.enable [ "d /var/lib/ceph/mgr - ceph ceph - -"]
+    ++ optionals cfg.mon.enable [ "d /var/lib/ceph/mon - ceph ceph - -"]
+    ++ optionals cfg.osd.enable [ "d /var/lib/ceph/osd - ceph ceph - -"];
   };
 }
diff --git a/nixos/tests/ceph-multi-node.nix b/nixos/tests/ceph-multi-node.nix
index 6698aac3f271..ed493d6a1b34 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/ceph-multi-node.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/ceph-multi-node.nix
@@ -49,9 +49,6 @@ let
     boot.kernelModules = [ "xfs" ];
 
     services.ceph = cephConfig;
-
-    # So that we don't have to battle systemd when bootstraping
-    systemd.targets.ceph.wantedBy = lib.mkForce [];
   };
 
   networkMonA = {
@@ -107,6 +104,10 @@ let
     };
   }; };
 
+  # Following deployment is based on the manual deployment described here:
+  # https://docs.ceph.com/docs/master/install/manual-deployment/
+  # For other ways to deploy a ceph cluster, look at the documentation at
+  # https://docs.ceph.com/docs/master/
   testscript = { ... }: ''
     startAll;
 
@@ -114,27 +115,6 @@ let
     $osd0->waitForUnit("network.target");
     $osd1->waitForUnit("network.target");
 
-    # Create the ceph-related directories
-    $monA->mustSucceed(
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/mgr/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}",
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/mon/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /var/lib/ceph/",
-      "mkdir -p /etc/ceph",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /etc/ceph"
-    );
-    $osd0->mustSucceed(
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /var/lib/ceph/",
-      "mkdir -p /etc/ceph",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /etc/ceph"
-    );
-    $osd1->mustSucceed(
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /var/lib/ceph/",
-      "mkdir -p /etc/ceph",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /etc/ceph"
-    );
-
     # Bootstrap ceph-mon daemon
     $monA->mustSucceed(
       "sudo -u ceph ceph-authtool --create-keyring /tmp/ceph.mon.keyring --gen-key -n mon. --cap mon 'allow *'",
@@ -142,6 +122,7 @@ let
       "sudo -u ceph ceph-authtool /tmp/ceph.mon.keyring --import-keyring /etc/ceph/ceph.client.admin.keyring",
       "monmaptool --create --add ${cfg.monA.name} ${cfg.monA.ip} --fsid ${cfg.clusterId} /tmp/monmap",
       "sudo -u ceph ceph-mon --mkfs -i ${cfg.monA.name} --monmap /tmp/monmap --keyring /tmp/ceph.mon.keyring",
+      "sudo -u ceph mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/mgr/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}/",
       "sudo -u ceph touch /var/lib/ceph/mon/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}/done",
       "systemctl start ceph-mon-${cfg.monA.name}"
     );
@@ -168,12 +149,14 @@ let
     # Bootstrap both OSDs
     $osd0->mustSucceed(
       "mkfs.xfs /dev/vdb",
+      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}",
       "mount /dev/vdb /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}",
       "ceph-authtool --create-keyring /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}/keyring --name osd.${cfg.osd0.name} --add-key ${cfg.osd0.key}",
       "echo '{\"cephx_secret\": \"${cfg.osd0.key}\"}' | ceph osd new ${cfg.osd0.uuid} -i -",
     );
     $osd1->mustSucceed(
       "mkfs.xfs /dev/vdb",
+      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}",
       "mount /dev/vdb /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}",
       "ceph-authtool --create-keyring /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}/keyring --name osd.${cfg.osd1.name} --add-key ${cfg.osd1.key}",
       "echo '{\"cephx_secret\": \"${cfg.osd1.key}\"}' | ceph osd new ${cfg.osd1.uuid} -i -"
@@ -209,22 +192,17 @@ let
       "ceph osd pool delete multi-node-other-test multi-node-other-test --yes-i-really-really-mean-it"
     );
 
-    # As we disable the target in the config, we still want to test that it works as intended
-    $osd0->mustSucceed("systemctl stop ceph-osd-${cfg.osd0.name}");
-    $osd1->mustSucceed("systemctl stop ceph-osd-${cfg.osd1.name}");
-    $monA->mustSucceed(
-      "systemctl stop ceph-mgr-${cfg.monA.name}",
-      "systemctl stop ceph-mon-${cfg.monA.name}"
-    );
-    
-    $monA->succeed("systemctl start ceph.target");
-    $monA->waitForUnit("ceph-mon-${cfg.monA.name}");
-    $monA->waitForUnit("ceph-mgr-${cfg.monA.name}");
-    $osd0->succeed("systemctl start ceph.target");
-    $osd0->waitForUnit("ceph-osd-${cfg.osd0.name}");
-    $osd1->succeed("systemctl start ceph.target");
-    $osd1->waitForUnit("ceph-osd-${cfg.osd1.name}");
-    
+    # Shut down ceph on all machines in a very unpolite way
+    $monA->crash;
+    $osd0->crash;
+    $osd1->crash;
+
+    # Start it up
+    $osd0->start;
+    $osd1->start;
+    $monA->start;
+
+    # Ensure the cluster comes back up again
     $monA->succeed("ceph -s | grep 'mon: 1 daemons'");
     $monA->waitUntilSucceeds("ceph -s | grep 'quorum ${cfg.monA.name}'");
     $monA->waitUntilSucceeds("ceph osd stat | grep -e '2 osds: 2 up[^,]*, 2 in'");
diff --git a/nixos/tests/ceph-single-node.nix b/nixos/tests/ceph-single-node.nix
index 10b77cff5a31..041fbd7e8e64 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/ceph-single-node.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/ceph-single-node.nix
@@ -46,9 +46,6 @@ let
     boot.kernelModules = [ "xfs" ];
 
     services.ceph = cephConfig;
-
-    # So that we don't have to battle systemd when bootstraping
-    systemd.targets.ceph.wantedBy = lib.mkForce [];
   };
 
   networkMonA = {
@@ -72,22 +69,15 @@ let
     };
   }; };
 
+  # Following deployment is based on the manual deployment described here:
+  # https://docs.ceph.com/docs/master/install/manual-deployment/
+  # For other ways to deploy a ceph cluster, look at the documentation at
+  # https://docs.ceph.com/docs/master/
   testscript = { ... }: ''
     startAll;
 
     $monA->waitForUnit("network.target");
 
-    # Create the ceph-related directories
-    $monA->mustSucceed(
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/mgr/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}",
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/mon/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}",
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}",
-      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}",
-      "mkdir -p /etc/ceph",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /etc/ceph",
-      "chown ceph:ceph -R /var/lib/ceph/",
-    );
-
     # Bootstrap ceph-mon daemon
     $monA->mustSucceed(
       "sudo -u ceph ceph-authtool --create-keyring /tmp/ceph.mon.keyring --gen-key -n mon. --cap mon 'allow *'",
@@ -104,8 +94,9 @@ let
     # Can't check ceph status until a mon is up
     $monA->succeed("ceph -s | grep 'mon: 1 daemons'");
 
-    # Start the ceph-mgr daemon, it has no deps and hardly any setup
+    # Start the ceph-mgr daemon, after copying in the keyring
     $monA->mustSucceed(
+      "sudo -u ceph mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/mgr/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}/",
       "ceph auth get-or-create mgr.${cfg.monA.name} mon 'allow profile mgr' osd 'allow *' mds 'allow *' > /var/lib/ceph/mgr/ceph-${cfg.monA.name}/keyring",
       "systemctl start ceph-mgr-${cfg.monA.name}"
     );
@@ -117,7 +108,9 @@ let
     $monA->mustSucceed(
       "mkfs.xfs /dev/vdb",
       "mkfs.xfs /dev/vdc",
+      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}",
       "mount /dev/vdb /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}",
+      "mkdir -p /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}",
       "mount /dev/vdc /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}",
       "ceph-authtool --create-keyring /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd0.name}/keyring --name osd.${cfg.osd0.name} --add-key ${cfg.osd0.key}",
       "ceph-authtool --create-keyring /var/lib/ceph/osd/ceph-${cfg.osd1.name}/keyring --name osd.${cfg.osd1.name} --add-key ${cfg.osd1.key}",
@@ -159,20 +152,17 @@ let
       "ceph osd pool delete single-node-other-test single-node-other-test --yes-i-really-really-mean-it"
     );
 
-    # As we disable the target in the config, we still want to test that it works as intended
-    $monA->mustSucceed(
-      "systemctl stop ceph-osd-${cfg.osd0.name}",
-      "systemctl stop ceph-osd-${cfg.osd1.name}",
-      "systemctl stop ceph-mgr-${cfg.monA.name}",
-      "systemctl stop ceph-mon-${cfg.monA.name}"
-    );
-    
+    # Shut down ceph by stopping ceph.target.
+    $monA->mustSucceed("systemctl stop ceph.target");
+
+    # Start it up
     $monA->succeed("systemctl start ceph.target");
     $monA->waitForUnit("ceph-mon-${cfg.monA.name}");
     $monA->waitForUnit("ceph-mgr-${cfg.monA.name}");
     $monA->waitForUnit("ceph-osd-${cfg.osd0.name}");
     $monA->waitForUnit("ceph-osd-${cfg.osd1.name}");
-    
+
+    # Ensure the cluster comes back up again
     $monA->succeed("ceph -s | grep 'mon: 1 daemons'");
     $monA->waitUntilSucceeds("ceph -s | grep 'quorum ${cfg.monA.name}'");
     $monA->waitUntilSucceeds("ceph osd stat | grep -e '2 osds: 2 up[^,]*, 2 in'");