diff --git a/app/flesnet/Parameters.cpp b/app/flesnet/Parameters.cpp
index f2f40fe12..b7008fe46 100644
--- a/app/flesnet/Parameters.cpp
+++ b/app/flesnet/Parameters.cpp
@@ -78,11 +78,10 @@ void Parameters::parse_options(int argc, char* argv[]) {
   generic_add("config-file,f",
               po::value<std::string>(&config_file)->value_name("<filename>"),
               "read configuration from file");
-  generic_add("log-level,l",
-              po::value<unsigned>(&log_level)
-                  ->default_value(log_level)
-                  ->value_name("<n>"),
-              "set the global log level (all: 0)");
+  generic_add("log-level,l", po::value<unsigned>(&log_level)
+                                 ->default_value(log_level)
+                                 ->value_name("<n>"),
+              "set the file log level (all:0)");
   generic_add("log-file,L",
               po::value<std::string>(&log_file)->value_name("<filename>"),
               "write log output to file");
diff --git a/app/flib_server/parameters.hpp b/app/flib_server/parameters.hpp
index 2a7b882c0..4527364e3 100644
--- a/app/flib_server/parameters.hpp
+++ b/app/flib_server/parameters.hpp
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ class parameters {
   void parse_options(int argc, char* argv[]) {
 
     std::string config_file;
-    unsigned log_level;
+    unsigned log_level = 2;
+    unsigned log_syslog = 2;
     std::string log_file;
 
     po::options_description generic("Generic options");
@@ -119,10 +120,16 @@ class parameters {
     config_add("desc-buffer-size-exp",
                po::value<size_t>(&_desc_buffer_size_exp)->default_value(19),
                "exp. size of the descriptor buffer (number of entries)");
-    config_add("log-level,l", po::value<unsigned>(&log_level)->default_value(2),
-               "set the log level (all:0)");
+    config_add("log-level,l", po::value<unsigned>(&log_level)
+                                  ->default_value(log_level)
+                                  ->value_name("<n>"),
+               "set the file log level (all:0)");
     config_add("log-file,L", po::value<std::string>(&log_file),
                "name of target log file");
+    config_add("log-syslog,S", po::value<unsigned>(&log_syslog)
+                                   ->default_value(log_syslog)
+                                   ->value_name("<n>"),
+               "enable logging to syslog at given log level");
     config_add("etcd-authority",
                po::value<std::string>(&_etcd.authority)
                    ->default_value("127.0.0.1:2379"),
@@ -164,6 +171,11 @@ class parameters {
       logging::add_file(log_file, static_cast<severity_level>(log_level));
     }
 
+    if (vm.count("log-syslog")) {
+      logging::add_syslog(logging::syslog::local0,
+                          static_cast<severity_level>(log_syslog));
+    }
+
     if (vm.count("flib-addr")) {
       _flib_addr = vm["flib-addr"].as<pci_addr>();
       _flib_autodetect = false;
diff --git a/app/mstool/Parameters.cpp b/app/mstool/Parameters.cpp
index eb12023d3..f55947348 100644
--- a/app/mstool/Parameters.cpp
+++ b/app/mstool/Parameters.cpp
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ void Parameters::parse_options(int argc, char* argv[]) {
   general_add("log-level,l", po::value<unsigned>(&log_level)
                                  ->default_value(log_level)
                                  ->value_name("<n>"),
-              "set the log level (default:2, all:0)");
+              "set the file log level (all:0)");
   general_add("log-file,L", po::value<std::string>(&log_file),
               "name of target log file");
   general_add("log-syslog,S", po::value<unsigned>(&log_syslog)
diff --git a/app/tsclient/Parameters.cpp b/app/tsclient/Parameters.cpp
index 7e7f5e084..657834038 100644
--- a/app/tsclient/Parameters.cpp
+++ b/app/tsclient/Parameters.cpp
@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@ void Parameters::parse_options(int argc, char* argv[]) {
   auto desc_add = desc.add_options();
   desc_add("version,V", "print version string");
   desc_add("help,h", "produce help message");
-  desc_add("log-level,l", po::value<unsigned>(&log_level),
-           "set the log level (default:2, all:0)");
-  desc_add("log-file,L", po::value<unsigned>(&log_level)
-                             ->default_value(log_level)
-                             ->value_name("<n>"),
+  desc_add("log-level,l", po::value<unsigned>(&log_level)
+                              ->default_value(log_level)
+                              ->value_name("<n>"),
+           "set the file log level (all:0)");
+  desc_add("log-file,L", po::value<std::string>(&log_file),
            "name of target log file");
   desc_add("log-syslog,S", po::value<unsigned>(&log_syslog)
                                ->default_value(log_syslog)
diff --git a/contrib/flesctl/init_run b/contrib/flesctl/init_run
index af3030820..d72824e51 100755
--- a/contrib/flesctl/init_run
+++ b/contrib/flesctl/init_run
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ for node in ${PN_LIST[@]}; do
     hostconfig $node
     PN_CFG+=("output = shm://$HOSTADDR/$SHM_PREFIX$output?datasize=27&descsize=19")
     PN_SPM+=("$node: ${FLESNETDIR}flesnet -f $FLESNET_CFG -L ${LOGDIR}${node}_flesnet_pn.log -o$output -e \"${SPMDIR}spm-provide %s\"")
-    PN_SPM+=("$node: bash -c \"${SPMDIR}spm-require $SHM_PREFIX$output; ${FLESNETDIR}tsclient -s $SHM_PREFIX$output ${TSCLIENT_PARAM//%run_id%/$RUN_ID}\"")
+    PN_SPM+=("$node: bash -c \"${SPMDIR}spm-require $SHM_PREFIX$output; ${FLESNETDIR}tsclient -c$output -s $SHM_PREFIX$output -L ${LOGDIR}${node}_tsclient.log ${TSCLIENT_PARAM//%run_id%/$RUN_ID}\"")
     ((output += 1))
 done