diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/computing/slurm/slurm.nix b/nixos/modules/services/computing/slurm/slurm.nix
index 3e513ab15717..82cf429936ea 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/computing/slurm/slurm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/computing/slurm/slurm.nix
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ let
 
   cfg = config.services.slurm;
   # configuration file can be generated by http://slurm.schedmd.com/configurator.html
-  configFile = pkgs.writeText "slurm.conf"
+  configFile = pkgs.writeTextDir "slurm.conf"
     ''
       ${optionalString (cfg.controlMachine != null) ''controlMachine=${cfg.controlMachine}''}
       ${optionalString (cfg.controlAddr != null) ''controlAddr=${cfg.controlAddr}''}
@@ -17,10 +17,25 @@ let
       ${cfg.extraConfig}
     '';
 
-  plugStackConfig = pkgs.writeText "plugstack.conf"
+  plugStackConfig = pkgs.writeTextDir "plugstack.conf"
     ''
       ${optionalString cfg.enableSrunX11 ''optional ${pkgs.slurm-spank-x11}/lib/x11.so''}
+      ${cfg.extraPlugstackConfig}
     '';
+
+
+  cgroupConfig = pkgs.writeTextDir "cgroup.conf"
+   ''
+     ${cfg.extraCgroupConfig}
+   '';
+
+  # slurm expects some additional config files to be
+  # in the same directory as slurm.conf
+  etcSlurm = pkgs.symlinkJoin {
+    name = "etc-slurm";
+    paths = [ configFile cgroupConfig plugStackConfig ];
+  };
+
 in
 
 {
@@ -46,7 +61,17 @@ in
 
       client = {
         enable = mkEnableOption "slurm client daemon";
+      };
 
+      enableStools = mkOption {
+        type = types.bool;
+        default = false;
+        description = ''
+          Wether to provide a slurm.conf file.
+          Enable this option if you do not run a slurm daemon on this host
+          (i.e. <literal>server.enable</literal> and <literal>client.enable</literal> are <literal>false</literal>)
+          but you still want to run slurm commands from this host.
+        '';
       };
 
       package = mkOption {
@@ -97,7 +122,7 @@ in
         example = "debug Nodes=linux[1-32] Default=YES MaxTime=INFINITE State=UP";
         description = ''
           Name by which the partition may be referenced. Note that now you have
-          to write patrition's parameters after the name.
+          to write the partition's parameters after the name.
         '';
       };
 
@@ -107,8 +132,8 @@ in
         description = ''
           If enabled srun will accept the option "--x11" to allow for X11 forwarding
           from within an interactive session or a batch job. This activates the
-          slurm-spank-x11 module. Note that this requires 'services.openssh.forwardX11'
-          to be enabled on the compute nodes.
+          slurm-spank-x11 module. Note that this option also enables
+          'services.openssh.forwardX11' on the client.
         '';
       };
 
@@ -130,6 +155,23 @@ in
           the end of the slurm configuration file.
         '';
       };
+
+      extraPlugstackConfig = mkOption {
+        default = "";
+        type = types.lines;
+        description = ''
+          Extra configuration that will be added to the end of <literal>plugstack.conf</literal>.
+        '';
+      };
+
+      extraCgroupConfig = mkOption {
+        default = "";
+        type = types.lines;
+        description = ''
+          Extra configuration for <literal>cgroup.conf</literal>. This file is
+          used when <literal>procTrackType=proctrack/cgroup</literal>.
+        '';
+      };
     };
 
   };
@@ -142,7 +184,7 @@ in
       wrappedSlurm = pkgs.stdenv.mkDerivation {
         name = "wrappedSlurm";
 
-        propagatedBuildInputs = [ cfg.package configFile ];
+        propagatedBuildInputs = [ cfg.package etcSlurm ];
 
         builder = pkgs.writeText "builder.sh" ''
           source $stdenv/setup
@@ -155,7 +197,7 @@ in
           #!/bin/sh
           if [ -z "$SLURM_CONF" ]
           then
-            SLURM_CONF="${configFile}" "$EXE" "\$@"
+            SLURM_CONF="${etcSlurm}/slurm.conf" "$EXE" "\$@"
           else
             "$EXE" "\$0"
           fi
@@ -165,7 +207,7 @@ in
         '';
       };
 
-  in mkIf (cfg.client.enable || cfg.server.enable) {
+  in mkIf (cfg.enableStools || cfg.client.enable || cfg.server.enable) {
 
     environment.systemPackages = [ wrappedSlurm ];
 
@@ -190,6 +232,8 @@ in
       '';
     };
 
+    services.openssh.forwardX11 = mkIf cfg.client.enable (mkDefault true);
+
     systemd.services.slurmctld = mkIf (cfg.server.enable) {
       path = with pkgs; [ wrappedSlurm munge coreutils ]
         ++ lib.optional cfg.enableSrunX11 slurm-spank-x11;