diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 66df0615173e35ae9a179d0519d8c1338699f9f5..684ba3647efc285b1184dd7cff7a880112e8eb50 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -20,21 +20,24 @@ USER 0
 
 WORKDIR /app
 
-COPY --from=base /app /app
+COPY --from=base /app/akhq.jar /app/akhq.jar
 
-COPY scripts/application.yml /app/application.yml 
+COPY config/application.yml /app/application.yml 
+
+COPY scripts/akhq /app/akhq
+
+COPY scripts/jvm.options /app/jvm.options
 
 COPY scripts/entrypoint.sh /app/entrypoint.sh
 
 ENV MICRONAUT_CONFIG_FILES=/app/application.yml
 
-RUN useradd -u 1001 akhq
-
-RUN chown -R akhq /app
+RUN chown -R 1001 /app
 
 RUN dnf upgrade -y && \
     dnf clean all && \
-    rm -rf /var/cache/dnf
+    rm -rf /var/cache/dnf && \
+    chmod +x /app/akhq
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["entrypoint.sh"]
 
diff --git a/scripts/application.yml b/config/application.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from scripts/application.yml
rename to config/application.yml
diff --git a/scripts/akhq b/scripts/akhq
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1ec024e461db209898ba794be73c99a33f4e9726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/akhq
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+
+# Read user-defined JVM options from jvm.options file
+JVM_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-11.0.9.11-2.el8_3.x86_64/bin/java"
+JVM_OPTS_FILE=${JVM_OPTS_FILE:-/app/jvm.options}
+for JVM_OPT in `grep "^-" ${JVM_OPTS_FILE}`
+do
+  JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} ${JVM_OPT}"
+done
+
+${JVM_HOME} ${JAVA_OPTS} -jar /app/akhq.jar
diff --git a/scripts/jvm.options b/scripts/jvm.options
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c0460993d5fbaa9aede3954cfda20952a66b9336
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/jvm.options
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+###########################################################################
+#                             jvm.options                                 #
+#                                                                         #
+# - all flags defined here will be used to startup the JVM                #
+# - one flag should be specified per line                                 #
+# - lines that do not start with '-' will be ignored                      #
+# - only static flags are accepted (no variables or parameters)           #
+# - dynamic flags will be appended to these on cassandra-env              #
+###########################################################################
+
+# Server Hotspot JVM
+-server
+
+# ensure UTF-8 encoding by default (e.g. filenames)
+-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
+
+# set to headless, just in case
+-Djava.awt.headless=true
+
+# generate a heap dump when an allocation from the Java heap fails
+# heap dumps are created in the working directory of the JVM
+-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
+-XX:HeapDumpPath=/tmp/heapdump.log
+
+# Do not rely on the system configuration
+-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
+-Duser.timezone=UTC
+
+# Jmx Remote
+-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
+-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=8686
+-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.local.only=false
+-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
+-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false