diff --git a/nodeup/pkg/model/sysctls.go b/nodeup/pkg/model/sysctls.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..505aff8cdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nodeup/pkg/model/sysctls.go
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package model
+
+import (
+	"k8s.io/kops/upup/pkg/fi"
+	"k8s.io/kops/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/nodetasks"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// SysctlBuilder set up our sysctls
+type SysctlBuilder struct {
+	*NodeupModelContext
+}
+
+var _ fi.ModelBuilder = &SysctlBuilder{}
+
+func (b *SysctlBuilder) Build(c *fi.ModelBuilderContext) error {
+	var sysctls []string
+
+	// Common settings
+	{
+		sysctls = append(sysctls,
+			"# Kubernetes Settings",
+			"")
+
+		// A higher vm.max_map_count is great for elasticsearch, mongo, or other mmap users
+		// See https://github.com/kubernetes/kops/issues/1340
+		sysctls = append(sysctls, "vm.max_map_count = 262144",
+			"")
+
+		// See https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/38001
+		sysctls = append(sysctls,
+			"kernel.softlockup_panic = 1",
+			"kernel.softlockup_all_cpu_backtrace = 1",
+			"")
+
+		// See https://github.com/kubernetes/kube-deploy/issues/261
+		sysctls = append(sysctls,
+			"# Increase the number of connections",
+			"net.core.somaxconn = 32768",
+			"",
+
+			"# Increase number of incoming connections backlog",
+			"net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 5000",
+			"",
+
+			"# Maximum Socket Receive Buffer",
+			"net.core.rmem_max = 16777216",
+			"",
+
+			"# Default Socket Send Buffer",
+			"net.core.wmem_max = 16777216",
+			"",
+
+			"# Increase the maximum total buffer-space allocatable",
+			"net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 12582912 16777216",
+			"net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 12582912 16777216",
+			"",
+
+			"# Increase the number of outstanding syn requests allowed",
+			"net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 8096",
+			"",
+
+			"# For persistent HTTP connections",
+			"net.ipv4.tcp_slow_start_after_idle = 0",
+			"",
+
+			"# Increase the tcp-time-wait buckets pool size to prevent simple DOS attacks",
+			"net.ipv4.tcp_tw_reuse = 1",
+			"",
+
+			// We can't change the local_port_range without changing the NodePort range
+			//"# Allowed local port range",
+			//"net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 10240 65535",
+			//"",
+
+			"# Max number of packets that can be queued on interface input",
+			"# If kernel is receiving packets faster than can be processed",
+			"# this queue increases",
+			"net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 16384",
+			"",
+
+			"# Increase size of file handles and inode cache",
+			"fs.file-max = 2097152",
+			"",
+		)
+	}
+
+	if b.Cluster.Spec.CloudProvider == string(fi.CloudProviderAWS) {
+		sysctls = append(sysctls,
+			"# AWS settings",
+			"",
+			"# Issue #23395",
+			"net.ipv4.neigh.default.gc_thresh1=0")
+	}
+
+	if b.Cluster.Spec.CloudProvider == string(fi.CloudProviderGCE) {
+		sysctls = append(sysctls,
+			"# GCE settings",
+			"",
+			"net.ipv4.ip_forward=1",
+			"")
+	}
+
+	t := &nodetasks.File{
+		Path:            "/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-general.conf",
+		Contents:        fi.NewStringResource(strings.Join(sysctls, "\n")),
+		Type:            nodetasks.FileType_File,
+		OnChangeExecute: []string{"sysctl", "--system"},
+	}
+	c.AddTask(t)
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_aws/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf b/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_aws/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index e3be4b8dcd..0000000000
--- a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_aws/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-# Kubernetes AWS settings
-
-# Issue #23395
-net.ipv4.neigh.default.gc_thresh1=0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_aws/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf.meta b/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_aws/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf.meta
deleted file mode 100644
index 7301e8af13..0000000000
--- a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_aws/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf.meta
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "onChangeExecute": [ "sysctl", "--system" ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_gce/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf b/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_gce/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index d801c31a48..0000000000
--- a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_gce/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# Kubernetes
-net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
diff --git a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_gce/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf.meta b/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_gce/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf.meta
deleted file mode 100644
index 7301e8af13..0000000000
--- a/upup/models/nodeup/networking/_gce/files/etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s-networking.conf.meta
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "onChangeExecute": [ "sysctl", "--system" ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go b/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go
index 0dbef7b905..3c679b73d1 100644
--- a/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go
+++ b/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ func (c *NodeUpCommand) Run(out io.Writer) error {
 	loader := NewLoader(c.config, c.cluster, assets, tags)
 
 	loader.Builders = append(loader.Builders, &model.DockerBuilder{NodeupModelContext: modelContext})
+	loader.Builders = append(loader.Builders, &model.SysctlBuilder{NodeupModelContext: modelContext})
 	tf, err := newTemplateFunctions(c.config, c.cluster, c.instanceGroup, tags)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error initializing: %v", err)