diff --git a/nfs-client/tasks/main.yml b/nfs-client/tasks/main.yml
index e6a90fbd6cf96e5c91803c9e14cae5831657b089..9cd580445496d30cae14d50e413ebe606cf374eb 100644
--- a/nfs-client/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/nfs-client/tasks/main.yml
@@ -49,6 +49,16 @@
     - sysctl
     - config
 
+- name: stretch has a reasonable default value for the kernel key storage size
+  sysctl: name=kernel.keys.root_maxkeys state=absent
+  when: debian_version == "stretch"
+  notify:
+    - reload sysctl
+  tags:
+    - nfs-client
+    - sysctl
+    - config
+
 # makes life much easier to have an automounter and not /etc/fstab
 - name: ensure automounter is installed
   apt: name=autofs state=latest