diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index fb0c3b2c1..23f948989 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ DEBUG=${ALL_DEBUG}
 #export EXTRALINK
 CURVER=1.2.3
 DISTRO := $(shell gawk -F= '/^NAME/{print $$2}' /etc/os-release)
+ifeq ($(wildcard /usr/lib/systemd/systemd), /usr/lib/systemd/systemd)
+	SYSTEMD=1
+else
+	SYSTEMD=0
+endif
 
 .PHONY: default
 default: build_deps build_lib build_src
@@ -354,8 +359,13 @@ cleanall:
 install: src/proxysql
 	install -m 0755 src/proxysql /usr/local/bin
 	install -m 0600 etc/proxysql.cnf /etc
-	install -m 0755 etc/init.d/proxysql /etc/init.d
 	if [ ! -d /var/lib/proxysql ]; then mkdir /var/lib/proxysql ; fi
+ifeq ($(SYSTEMD), 1)
+	install -m 0644 systemd/proxysql.service /usr/lib/systemd/system/
+	systemctl daemon-reload
+	systemctl enable proxysql.service
+else
+	install -m 0755 etc/init.d/proxysql /etc/init.d
 ifeq ($(DISTRO),"CentOS Linux")
 		chkconfig --level 0123456 proxysql on
 else
@@ -365,12 +375,17 @@ else
 		update-rc.d proxysql defaults
 endif
 endif
+endif
 .PHONY: install
 
 uninstall:
 	rm /etc/proxysql.cnf
 	rm /usr/local/bin/proxysql
 	rmdir /var/lib/proxysql 2>/dev/null || true
+ifeq ($(SYSTEMD), 1)
+		systemctl stop proxysql.service
+		rm /usr/lib/systemd/system/proxysql.service
+else
 ifeq ($(DISTRO),"CentOS Linux")
 		chkconfig --level 0123456 proxysql off
 		rm /etc/init.d/proxysql
@@ -383,4 +398,5 @@ else
 		update-rc.d proxysql remove
 endif
 endif
+endif
 .PHONY: uninstall
diff --git a/doc/release_notes/ProxySQL_v1.2.3.md b/doc/release_notes/ProxySQL_v1.2.3.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cd1b9c213
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/release_notes/ProxySQL_v1.2.3.md
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# ProxySQL v1.2.3
+
+Release date: 2016-09-20
+
+## Performance improvement
+
+None
+
+
+## Usability improvement
+
+* Admin: introduced new table `runtime_mysql_users` [#691](../../../../issues/691)
+* Compile: new packages avaiable for Fedora24
+* Compile: new packages avaiable for Ubuntu16
+* Doc: updated documentation on passwords
+* General: added suppot for systemd (yet not included in binaries)
+
+
+## New features
+
+* Admin: introduced new variable `admin-hash_passwords` to automatically hash mysql passwords [#676](../../../../issues/676)
+* Query Cache: aggressive memory purging when 90% of memory limit is reached [#690](../../../../issues/690)
+* Query Processor: added parsing for several SQL commands
+
+
+## Bug fixes
+
+* Mirroring: fixes several bugs related to errors handling
+* Mirroring: fixes crashing bug
+* Query Cache: memory used was computed incorrectly
+* Connection Pool: a failed `CHANGE_USER` could cause a crash [#682](../../../../issues/682)
+
+
+## Contributors
+
+Thanks to contributors, in alphabetical order:
+* @dveeden
diff --git a/include/proxysql.h b/include/proxysql.h
index 3397ef58d..268337bc1 100644
--- a/include/proxysql.h
+++ b/include/proxysql.h
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
 #else
 #define DEB ""
 #endif /* DEBUG */
-#define PROXYSQL_VERSION	"1.2.3-RC" DEB
+#define PROXYSQL_VERSION	"1.2.3" DEB
 #define PROXYSQL_CODENAME	"Truls"
 
 #ifndef PROXYSQL_FUNC_DEFS
diff --git a/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp b/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp
index 375678747..53c2b6954 100644
--- a/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp
+++ b/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp
@@ -1583,8 +1583,16 @@ handler_again:
 
 		case CONNECTING_SERVER:
 			//fprintf(stderr,"CONNECTING_SERVER\n");
+			if (mirror) {
+					mybe->server_myds->connect_retries_on_failure=0; // no try for mirror
+					mybe->server_myds->wait_until=thread->curtime+mysql_thread___connect_timeout_server*1000;
+					pause_until=0;
+			}
 			if (mybe->server_myds->max_connect_time) {
 				if (thread->curtime >= mybe->server_myds->max_connect_time) {
+					if (mirror) {
+						PROXY_TRACE();
+					}
 					char buf[256];
 					sprintf(buf,"Max connect timeout reached while reaching hostgroup %d after %llums", current_hostgroup, (thread->curtime - CurrentQuery.start_time)/1000 );
 					client_myds->myprot.generate_pkt_ERR(true,NULL,NULL,1,1045,(char *)"#28000",buf);
@@ -1600,6 +1608,10 @@ handler_again:
 					if (mybe->server_myds->myconn) {
 						//mybe->server_myds->destroy_MySQL_Connection();
 						mybe->server_myds->destroy_MySQL_Connection_From_Pool(false);
+						if (mirror) {
+							PROXY_TRACE();
+							NEXT_IMMEDIATE(WAITING_CLIENT_DATA);
+						}
 					}
 					mybe->server_myds->max_connect_time=0;
 					NEXT_IMMEDIATE(WAITING_CLIENT_DATA);
@@ -1607,6 +1619,12 @@ handler_again:
 			}
 			if (mybe->server_myds->myconn==NULL) {
 				handler___client_DSS_QUERY_SENT___server_DSS_NOT_INITIALIZED__get_connection();
+			}
+			if (mybe->server_myds->myconn==NULL) {
+				if (mirror) {
+					PROXY_TRACE();
+					NEXT_IMMEDIATE(WAITING_CLIENT_DATA);
+				}
 			}	
 			if (mybe->server_myds->myconn==NULL) {
 				pause_until=thread->curtime+mysql_thread___connect_retries_delay*1000;
@@ -1633,10 +1651,16 @@ handler_again:
 /* */
 				assert(myconn->async_state_machine!=ASYNC_IDLE);
 				rc=myconn->async_connect(myds->revents);
+				if (mirror) {
+					PROXY_TRACE();
+				}
 				if (myds->mypolls==NULL) {
 					// connection yet not in mypolls
 					myds->assign_fd_from_mysql_conn();
 					thread->mypolls.add(POLLIN|POLLOUT, mybe->server_myds->fd, mybe->server_myds, curtime);
+					if (mirror) {
+						PROXY_TRACE();
+					}
 				}
 				switch (rc) {
 					case 0:
@@ -1660,6 +1684,9 @@ handler_again:
 						if (myds->connect_retries_on_failure >0 ) {
 							myds->connect_retries_on_failure--;
 							//myds->destroy_MySQL_Connection();
+							if (mirror) {
+								PROXY_TRACE();
+							}
 							myds->destroy_MySQL_Connection_From_Pool(false);
 							NEXT_IMMEDIATE(CONNECTING_SERVER);
 						} else {
@@ -1682,6 +1709,9 @@ handler_again:
 								previous_status.pop();
 							}
 							//myds->destroy_MySQL_Connection();
+							if (mirror) {
+								PROXY_TRACE();
+							}
 							myds->destroy_MySQL_Connection_From_Pool( myerr ? true : false );
 							myds->max_connect_time=0;
 							NEXT_IMMEDIATE(WAITING_CLIENT_DATA);
diff --git a/lib/MySQL_Thread.cpp b/lib/MySQL_Thread.cpp
index 198766370..6d924a924 100644
--- a/lib/MySQL_Thread.cpp
+++ b/lib/MySQL_Thread.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 #include "cpp.h"
 #include "MySQL_Thread.h"
 
+#ifdef DEBUG
+MySQL_Session *sess_stopat;
+#endif
+
 #define PROXYSQL_LISTEN_LEN 1024
 
 extern Query_Processor *GloQPro;
@@ -1984,6 +1988,11 @@ void MySQL_Thread::process_all_sessions() {
 	}
 	for (n=0; n<mysql_sessions->len; n++) {
 		MySQL_Session *sess=(MySQL_Session *)mysql_sessions->index(n);
+#ifdef DEBUG
+		if(sess==sess_stopat) {
+			sess_stopat=sess;
+		}
+#endif
 		if (sess->mirror==true) { // this is a mirror session
 			if (sess->status==WAITING_CLIENT_DATA) { // the mirror session has completed
 				unregister_session(n);
diff --git a/systemd/proxysql.service b/systemd/proxysql.service
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7ea7df229
--- /dev/null
+++ b/systemd/proxysql.service
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=High Performance Advanced Proxy for MySQL
+After=network.target
+
+[Service]
+LimitNOFILE=102400
+LimitCORE=1073741824
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/proxysql -f
+Restart=always
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target