diff --git a/basic-system/tasks/logging.yml b/basic-system/tasks/logging.yml
index e1480c3592737d078d31adee319b259c14e8630e..1a3ecd544e55f0838c4d86b83b4ecf9a74407149 100644
--- a/basic-system/tasks/logging.yml
+++ b/basic-system/tasks/logging.yml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
     - config
     - syslog
 
-- name: configure journal size limits
+- name: configure journal size and time limits
   template:
     src: size.conf.j2
     dest: /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/size.conf
diff --git a/basic-system/templates/size.conf.j2 b/basic-system/templates/size.conf.j2
index 9e19100caef22fc26bbbb87b6ddfbc4da77617f4..88273e228518ce52bd6b6fe97f561290d7425852 100644
--- a/basic-system/templates/size.conf.j2
+++ b/basic-system/templates/size.conf.j2
@@ -12,4 +12,10 @@ SystemMaxFileSize={{ systemd_journald.system_max_file_size }}
 {% if systemd_journald.system_max_files is defined %}
 SystemMaxFiles={{ systemd_journald.system_max_files }}
 {% endif %}
+{% if systemd_journald.max_file_sec is defined %}
+MaxFileSec={{ systemd_journald.max_file_sec }}
+{% endif %}
+{% if systemd_journald.max_retention_sec is defined %}
+MaxRetentionSec={{ systemd_journald.max_retention_sec }}
+{% endif %}
 {% endif %}