diff --git a/src/rpm/scripts/postinstall b/src/rpm/scripts/postinstall
index 5069201d7f2..ca6be85ea34 100644
--- a/src/rpm/scripts/postinstall
+++ b/src/rpm/scripts/postinstall
@@ -11,7 +11,14 @@ if [ $1 -eq 1 ] ; then
 
     if [ -x /sbin/chkconfig -a "$hasBeenEnabledOnStart" == "false" ] ; then
         /sbin/chkconfig --add elasticsearch
-        /etc/init.d/elasticsearch start
+        # older suse linux distributions do not ship with systemd
+        # but do not have an /etc/init.d/ directory
+        # this tries to start elasticsearch on these as well without failing this script
+        if [ -x /etc/init.d/elasticsearch ] ; then
+            /etc/init.d/elasticsearch start
+        elif [ -x /etc/rc.d/init.d/elasticsearch ] ; then
+            /etc/rc.d/init.d/elasticsearch start
+        fi
     fi
 
 fi