diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 73c084e..5563b5e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ bootstrap_capo/capo-ephemeral
 image-builder/config/*.iso
 image-builder/config/*.qcow2
 image-builder/config/*.md5sum
+image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/main.yaml
diff --git a/.zuul.yaml b/.zuul.yaml
index 0e375be..da17f3a 100644
--- a/.zuul.yaml
+++ b/.zuul.yaml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
         http: ""
         https: ""
         noproxy: ""
+      image_config_dir: config
     check:
       jobs:
         - airship-images-functional
diff --git a/image-builder/Makefile b/image-builder/Makefile
index 73dbcab..d1bc829 100644
--- a/image-builder/Makefile
+++ b/image-builder/Makefile
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ help: ## This help.
 images: build generate_iso package_qcow
 
 build:
+	# Apply any user-defined overrides to multistrap playbook
+	cp $(WORKDIR)/rootfs/multistrap-vars.yaml assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/main.yaml
 ifneq ($(PROXY), )
 	sudo -E ./tools/docker_proxy.sh $(PROXY) $(NO_PROXY)
 	export http_proxy=$(PROXY)
diff --git a/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/README.md b/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..385420f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Do not make updates here.
+
+See image-builder/config/rootfs/multistrap-vars.yaml
diff --git a/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/osconfig/defaults/main.yaml b/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/osconfig/defaults/main.yaml
index 6d4d553..ee514a9 100644
--- a/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/osconfig/defaults/main.yaml
+++ b/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/osconfig/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -42,6 +42,26 @@ limits:
       type: 'hard'
       item: 'core'
       value: 0
+    - name: nofile-root-soft
+      domain: 'root'
+      type: 'soft'
+      item: 'nofile'
+      value: '65536'
+    - name: nofile-root-hard
+      domain: 'root'
+      type: 'hard'
+      item: 'nofile'
+      value: '1048576'
+    - name: nofile-all-soft
+      domain: '*'
+      type: 'soft'
+      item: 'nofile'
+      value: '65536'
+    - name: nofile-all-hard
+      domain: '*'
+      type: 'hard'
+      item: 'nofile'
+      value: '1048576'
 
 sysctl:
     - name: net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-ip6tables
diff --git a/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/main.yaml b/image-builder/config/rootfs/multistrap-vars.yaml
similarity index 85%
rename from image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/main.yaml
rename to image-builder/config/rootfs/multistrap-vars.yaml
index 474aece..7bc3c7d 100644
--- a/image-builder/assets/playbooks/roles/multistrap/vars/main.yaml
+++ b/image-builder/config/rootfs/multistrap-vars.yaml
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-# Overrides to the playbook default variables may be defined in this file.
+# Overrides to the multistrap playbook defaults may be defined in this file.
 #
 # The following are examples that show you how to override variables.
 #
 # Example 1: The following usage will *overwrite* the list of repos & packages
-#            defined under defaults/main.yaml with the list here:
+#            defined under multistrap/defaults/main.yaml with the list here:
 #repos:
 #  - register_repo_with_rootfs: true
 #    name: Ubuntu
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 # everything, including the package list(s) for each mirror.
 #
 # Example 2: The following usage will *append* to the list of default repos
-#            defined under defaults/main.yaml with the list here:
+#            defined under multistrap/defaults/main.yaml with the list here:
 #repos_append:
 #  - register_repo_with_rootfs: true
 #    name: DellUtilsRepo
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@
 # the community Ubuntu mirrors.
 #
 # Example 3: The following usage will *append* to the list of default packages
-#            installed from the default Ubuntu mirror defined in defaults/main.yaml:
+#            installed from the default Ubuntu mirror defined in
+#            multistrap/defaults/main.yaml:
 #ubuntu_packages_append:
 #  - package1
 #  - package2
diff --git a/image-builder/tools/cut_image.sh b/image-builder/tools/cut_image.sh
index a9367e9..f8a1135 100755
--- a/image-builder/tools/cut_image.sh
+++ b/image-builder/tools/cut_image.sh
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ install_pkg(){
   dpkg -l $1 2> /dev/null | grep ^ii > /dev/null || sudo -E apt-get -y install $1
 }
 
-sudo -E apt -y update
+if [ ! -f /var/lib/apt/periodic/update-success-stamp ] || \
+     sudo find /var/lib/apt/periodic/update-success-stamp -mtime +1 | grep update-success-stamp; then
+     sudo -E apt -y update
+fi
 
 install_pkg qemu-kvm
 install_pkg virtinst
@@ -110,9 +113,9 @@ outputFileName: $img_name" > ${qcow_config}
    --env NO_PROXY=$noproxy \
    ${image} < ${qcow_config}
   cloud_init_config_dir='assets/tests/qcow/cloud-init'
-  sudo -E cloud-localds -v --network-config="${cloud_init_config_dir}/network-config" "${workdir}/airship-ubuntu_config.iso" "${cloud_init_config_dir}/user-data" "${cloud_init_config_dir}/meta-data"
+  sudo -E cloud-localds -v --network-config="${cloud_init_config_dir}/network-config" "${workdir}/${img_name}_config.iso" "${cloud_init_config_dir}/user-data" "${cloud_init_config_dir}/meta-data"
   disk1="--disk path=${workdir}/${img_name}"
-  disk2="--disk path=${workdir}/airship-ubuntu_config.iso,device=cdrom"
+  disk2="--disk path=${workdir}/${img_name}_config.iso,device=cdrom"
 else
   echo Unknown build type: $build_type, exiting.
   exit 1
diff --git a/image-builder/tools/multistrap.sh b/image-builder/tools/multistrap.sh
index 598fc35..8b5a1a2 100755
--- a/image-builder/tools/multistrap.sh
+++ b/image-builder/tools/multistrap.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,10 @@ umount_chroot(){
 }
 
 # Install pre-requisites
-sudo -E apt -y update
+if [ ! -f /var/lib/apt/periodic/update-success-stamp ] || \
+     sudo find /var/lib/apt/periodic/update-success-stamp -mtime +1 | grep update-success-stamp; then
+     sudo -E apt -y update
+fi
 
 install_pkg efivar
 # required for building UEFI image
@@ -73,7 +76,9 @@ pip3 show ansible >& /dev/null || sudo -E pip3 install --upgrade ansible
 
 if [[ $1 = clean ]]; then
     umount_chroot
-    sudo chattr -i $build_dir/etc/kernel/postinst.d/kdump-tools
+    if [ -f $build_dir/etc/kernel/postinst.d/kdump-tools ]; then
+      sudo chattr -i $build_dir/etc/kernel/postinst.d/kdump-tools
+    fi
     if [[ -d $build_dir ]]; then
         sudo rm -rf $build_dir
     fi
diff --git a/playbooks/airship-images-build.yaml b/playbooks/airship-images-build.yaml
index f266cda..354a57b 100644
--- a/playbooks/airship-images-build.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/airship-images-build.yaml
@@ -38,4 +38,5 @@
             params:
               COMMIT: "{{ zuul.newrev | default('') }}"
               PUSH_IMAGE: "false"
+              WORKDIR: "{{ image_config_dir | default('config') }}"
       become: True
diff --git a/playbooks/airship-images-publish.yaml b/playbooks/airship-images-publish.yaml
index 5a30a0f..d2405d7 100644
--- a/playbooks/airship-images-publish.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/airship-images-publish.yaml
@@ -43,4 +43,5 @@
               DOCKER_REGISTRY: "{{ docker_registry }}"
               GCP_SDK: "{{ gcp_sdk }}"
               AZ_SDK: "{{ az_sdk }}"
+              WORKDIR: "{{ image_config_dir | default('config') }}"
       become: True