diff --git a/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java b/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java
index 036ec9b255c26afde777b6c21d973e98adb01ead..f9ac4d836c3b0c2c78698e5591aab9d889c09b9a 100644
--- a/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java
+++ b/web/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/web/bean/utils/StartupBean.java
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ public class StartupBean {
   }
 
   private void loadCustomLog4jProperties() {
-    String filename = "/etc/minerva/log4j.properties";
+    String filename = "/etc/minerva/log4j2.properties";
     File file = new File(filename);
     if (file.exists()) {
       try {
diff --git a/web/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/resources/log4j2.properties b/web/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/resources/log4j2.properties
index b5eaa32682d177bf266eb6ed4831b4e8f4b9135d..0ebb1f5880ed1734dec10156e04ff336f73286f3 100644
--- a/web/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/resources/log4j2.properties
+++ b/web/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/resources/log4j2.properties
@@ -1,25 +1,39 @@
-rootLogger.level = INFO
-appenders = console
+#Set root logger 's level
 
+appenders = console, file
+
+#Set the behavior of the CONSOLE appender 
 appender.console.type = Console
 appender.console.name = STDOUT
 appender.console.layout.type = PatternLayout
 appender.console.layout.pattern = %d %5p [%t] (%F:%L) - %m%n
 
-rootLogger.appenderRefs = console
-
-rootLogger.appenderRef.console.ref = STDOUT
+#Set the behavior of the FILE appender 
+appender.file.type = File
+appender.file.name = LogToFile
+appender.file.fileName=${sys:catalina.base}/logs/minerva.txt
+appender.file.layout.type=PatternLayout
+appender.file.layout.pattern= %d %5p [%t] (%F:%L) - %m%n
 
 logger.minerva.name = lcsb
 logger.minerva.level = debug
+#silence some debug information
 logger.minerva-persist.name = lcsb.mapviewer.persist.DbUtils
 logger.minerva-persist.level = info
+
 logger.minerva-cache.name = lcsb.mapviewer.annotation.cache
 logger.minerva-cache.level = info
 
-
+#remove spring info messages
 logger.springframework.name = org.springframework
 logger.springframework.level = warn
 
+#remove hibernate info messages
 logger.hibernate.name = org.hibernate
 logger.hibernate.level = warn
+
+rootLogger.level = info
+rootLogger.appenderRefs = console, file
+rootLogger.appenderRef.console.ref = STDOUT
+rootLogger.appenderRef.file.ref = LogToFile
+