diff --git a/hack/lib/etcd.sh b/hack/lib/etcd.sh
index 1aacae6cfec..4d5a623ebb8 100755
--- a/hack/lib/etcd.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/etcd.sh
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ kube::etcd::start() {
   if [[ -d "${ARTIFACTS_DIR:-}" ]]; then
     ETCD_LOGFILE="${ARTIFACTS_DIR}/etcd.$(uname -n).$(id -un).log.DEBUG.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).$$"
   else
-    ETCD_LOGFILE=/dev/null
+    ETCD_LOGFILE=${ETCD_LOGFILE:-"/dev/null"}
   fi
   kube::log::info "etcd --advertise-client-urls http://${ETCD_HOST}:${ETCD_PORT} --data-dir ${ETCD_DIR} --listen-client-urls http://${ETCD_HOST}:${ETCD_PORT} --debug > \"${ETCD_LOGFILE}\" 2>/dev/null"
   etcd --advertise-client-urls http://${ETCD_HOST}:${ETCD_PORT} --data-dir ${ETCD_DIR} --listen-client-urls http://${ETCD_HOST}:${ETCD_PORT} --debug 2> "${ETCD_LOGFILE}" >/dev/null &
diff --git a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
index f1800e8381d..9dd6b9feeff 100755
--- a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
+++ b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
@@ -448,6 +448,7 @@ function warning_log {
 
 function start_etcd {
     echo "Starting etcd"
+    ETCD_LOGFILE=${LOG_DIR}/etcd.log
     kube::etcd::start
 }