diff --git a/pkg/cli/flags.go b/pkg/cli/flags.go
index e54b0794bd24..154fa80a6420 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/flags.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/flags.go
@@ -815,6 +815,7 @@ func init() {
 		varFlag(f, addrSetter{&serverHTTPAddr, &serverHTTPPort}, cliflags.ListenHTTPAddr)
 
 		stringSliceFlag(f, &serverCfg.SQLConfig.TenantKVAddrs, cliflags.KVAddrs)
+		varFlag(f, &startCtx.logDir, cliflags.LogDir)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/cli/mt_start_sql.go b/pkg/cli/mt_start_sql.go
index d12f103fc57c..d33bf22340e3 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/mt_start_sql.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/mt_start_sql.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/clusterversion"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/server"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/log"
-	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/stop"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
@@ -61,7 +60,18 @@ well unless it can be verified using a trusted root certificate store. That is,
 func runStartSQL(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	const clusterName = ""
-	stopper := stop.NewStopper()
+
+	// Remove the default store, which avoids using it to set up logging.
+	// Instead, we'll default to logging to stderr unless --log-dir is
+	// specified. This makes sense since the standalone SQL server is
+	// at the time of writing stateless and may not be provisioned with
+	// suitable storage.
+	serverCfg.Stores.Specs = nil
+
+	stopper, err := setupAndInitializeLoggingAndProfiling(ctx, cmd)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	defer stopper.Stop(ctx)
 
 	st := serverCfg.BaseConfig.Settings
diff --git a/pkg/cli/start.go b/pkg/cli/start.go
index 4a2992ad375c..ef3c4a487cc4 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/start.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/start.go
@@ -1001,7 +1001,7 @@ func logOutputDirectory() string {
 // setupAndInitializeLoggingAndProfiling does what it says on the label.
 // Prior to this however it determines suitable defaults for the
 // logging output directory and the verbosity level of stderr logging.
-// We only do this for the "start" command which is why this work
+// We only do this for the "start" and "start-sql" commands which is why this work
 // occurs here and not in an OnInitialize function.
 func setupAndInitializeLoggingAndProfiling(
 	ctx context.Context, cmd *cobra.Command,
@@ -1031,6 +1031,7 @@ func setupAndInitializeLoggingAndProfiling(
 			}
 			newDir = filepath.Join(spec.Path, "logs")
 		}
+
 		if err := startCtx.logDir.Set(newDir); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/server/config.go b/pkg/server/config.go
index 6a6b6cb0f4fa..c243d5f34ac9 100644
--- a/pkg/server/config.go
+++ b/pkg/server/config.go
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ const (
 	defaultScanMinIdleTime   = 10 * time.Millisecond
 	defaultScanMaxIdleTime   = 1 * time.Second
 
-	defaultStorePath = "cockroach-data"
+	DefaultStorePath = "cockroach-data"
 	// TempDirPrefix is the filename prefix of any temporary subdirectory
 	// created.
 	TempDirPrefix = "cockroach-temp"
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ func SetOpenFileLimitForOneStore() (uint64, error) {
 
 // MakeConfig returns a Config for the system tenant with default values.
 func MakeConfig(ctx context.Context, st *cluster.Settings) Config {
-	storeSpec, err := base.NewStoreSpec(defaultStorePath)
+	storeSpec, err := base.NewStoreSpec(DefaultStorePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/server/testserver.go b/pkg/server/testserver.go
index 7eedbc499a74..42aa0fad79b7 100644
--- a/pkg/server/testserver.go
+++ b/pkg/server/testserver.go
@@ -544,6 +544,9 @@ func makeSQLServerArgs(
 	const sqlInstanceID = base.SQLInstanceID(10001)
 	idContainer := base.NewSQLIDContainer(sqlInstanceID, &c, false /* exposed */)
 
+	runtime := status.NewRuntimeStatSampler(context.Background(), clock)
+	registry.AddMetricStruct(runtime)
+
 	// We don't need this for anything except some services that want a gRPC
 	// server to register against (but they'll never get RPCs at the time of
 	// writing): the blob service and DistSQL.
@@ -573,7 +576,7 @@ func makeSQLServerArgs(
 		BaseConfig:               &baseCfg,
 		stopper:                  stopper,
 		clock:                    clock,
-		runtime:                  status.NewRuntimeStatSampler(context.Background(), clock),
+		runtime:                  runtime,
 		rpcContext:               rpcContext,
 		nodeDescs:                tenantConnect,
 		systemConfigProvider:     tenantConnect,