diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index fad233f18..145a9bab5 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -84,6 +84,10 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: Kill servers
           command: sudo pkill etserver
+      - run:
+          name: Debug info/logs if failed
+          when: on_fail
+          command: ls -la /tmp/et*; sudo awk 'FNR==1 {print "XXXXXX", FILENAME, "XXXXXX"}{print}' /tmp/et*
 
 workflows:
   version: 2
diff --git a/etc/et.cfg b/etc/et.cfg
index 812adafdb..44a901ba2 100644
--- a/etc/et.cfg
+++ b/etc/et.cfg
@@ -9,4 +9,5 @@ port = 2022
 verbose = 0
 silent = 0
 logsize = 20971520
+logdirectory = /tmp
 telemetry = 1
diff --git a/src/terminal/TerminalClientMain.cpp b/src/terminal/TerminalClientMain.cpp
index bbd716f57..0823a923f 100644
--- a/src/terminal/TerminalClientMain.cpp
+++ b/src/terminal/TerminalClientMain.cpp
@@ -88,11 +88,13 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
         ("v,verbose", "Enable verbose logging",
          cxxopts::value<int>()->default_value("0"))  //
         ("k,keepalive", "Client keepalive duration in seconds",
-         cxxopts::value<int>())                              //
-        ("logtostdout", "Write log to stdout")               //
-        ("silent", "Disable logging")                        //
-        ("N,no-terminal", "Do not create a terminal")        //
-        ("f,forward-ssh-agent", "Forward ssh-agent socket")  //
+         cxxopts::value<int>())  //
+        ("l,logdir", "Base directory for log files.",
+         cxxopts::value<std::string>()->default_value(tmpDir))  //
+        ("logtostdout", "Write log to stdout")                  //
+        ("silent", "Disable logging")                           //
+        ("N,no-terminal", "Do not create a terminal")           //
+        ("f,forward-ssh-agent", "Forward ssh-agent socket")     //
         ("ssh-socket", "The ssh-agent socket to forward",
          cxxopts::value<std::string>())  //
         ("telemetry",
@@ -124,8 +126,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
       defaultConf.setGlobally(el::ConfigurationType::Enabled, "false");
     }
 
-    LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, tmpDir, "etclient",
-                              result.count("logtostdout"),
+    LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, result["logdir"].as<string>(),
+                              "etclient", result.count("logtostdout"),
                               !result.count("logtostdout"));
 
     el::Loggers::reconfigureLogger("default", defaultConf);
diff --git a/src/terminal/TerminalMain.cpp b/src/terminal/TerminalMain.cpp
index 553fbe000..df02ea014 100644
--- a/src/terminal/TerminalMain.cpp
+++ b/src/terminal/TerminalMain.cpp
@@ -48,7 +48,9 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
         // Not used by etterminal but easylogging uses this flag under the hood
         ("v,verbose", "Enable verbose logging",
          cxxopts::value<int>()->default_value("0"))  //
-        ("logtostdout", "Write log to stdout")       //
+        ("l,logdir", "Base directory for log files.",
+         cxxopts::value<std::string>()->default_value(GetTempDirectory()))  //
+        ("logtostdout", "Write log to stdout")                              //
         ("serverfifo",
          "If set, connects to the etserver instance listening on the matching "
          "fifo name",                                       //
@@ -138,7 +140,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     string username = string(ssh_get_local_username());
     if (result.count("jump")) {
       // etserver with --jump cannot write to the default log file(root)
-      LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, GetTempDirectory(),
+      LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, result["logdir"].as<string>(),
                                 ("etjump-" + username + "-" + id),
                                 result.count("logtostdout"), false);
       // Reconfigure default logger to apply settings above
@@ -167,7 +169,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
     }
 
     // etserver with --idpasskey cannot write to the default log file(root)
-    LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, GetTempDirectory(),
+    LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, result["logdir"].as<string>(),
                               ("etterminal-" + username + "-" + id),
                               result.count("logtostdout"), false);
 
diff --git a/src/terminal/TerminalServerMain.cpp b/src/terminal/TerminalServerMain.cpp
index a7fb326cc..2aac3a8d5 100644
--- a/src/terminal/TerminalServerMain.cpp
+++ b/src/terminal/TerminalServerMain.cpp
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
         ("daemon", "Daemonize the server")             //
         ("cfgfile", "Location of the config file",
          cxxopts::value<std::string>()->default_value(""))  //
-        ("logtostdout", "log to stdout")                    //
+        ("l,logdir", "Base directory for log files.",
+         cxxopts::value<std::string>())   //
+        ("logtostdout", "log to stdout")  //
         ("pidfile", "Location of the pid file",
          cxxopts::value<std::string>()->default_value(
              "/var/run/etserver.pid"))  //
@@ -77,6 +79,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 
     int port = 0;
     string bindIp = "";
+    string logDirectory = GetTempDirectory();
     bool telemetry = true;
     if (result.count("cfgfile")) {
       // Load the config file
@@ -120,6 +123,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
         if (silent && atoi(silent) != 0) {
           defaultConf.setGlobally(el::ConfigurationType::Enabled, "false");
         }
+
         // read log file size limit
         const char *logsize = ini.GetValue("Debug", "logsize", NULL);
         if (logsize && atoi(logsize) != 0) {
@@ -127,6 +131,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
           maxlogsize = string(logsize);
         }
 
+        // log file directory (TODO path validation and trailing slash cleanup)
+        const char *logdir = ini.GetValue("Debug", "logdirectory", NULL);
+        if (logdir) {
+          logDirectory = string(logdir);
+        }
       } else {
         STFATAL << "Invalid config file: " << cfgfilename;
       }
@@ -149,6 +158,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
       telemetry = result["telemetry"].as<bool>();
     }
 
+    if (result.count("logdir")) {
+      logDirectory = result["logdir"].as<string>();
+    }
+
     GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_VERIFY_VERSION;
     srand(1);
 
@@ -157,7 +170,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
     }
 
     // Set log file for etserver process here.
-    LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, GetTempDirectory(), "etserver",
+    LogHandler::setupLogFiles(&defaultConf, logDirectory, "etserver",
                               result.count("logtostdout"),
                               !result.count("logtostdout"), maxlogsize);
     // Reconfigure default logger to apply settings above