diff --git a/bin/kafka-rest-run-class b/bin/kafka-rest-run-class
index c993f52266..ca26edbac2 100755
--- a/bin/kafka-rest-run-class
+++ b/bin/kafka-rest-run-class
@@ -31,11 +31,11 @@ if [ "x$KAFKAREST_LOG4J_OPTS" = "x" ]; then
   # Test for files from dev -> packages so this will work as expected in dev if you have packages
   # installed
   if [ -e "$base_dir/config/log4j2.yaml" ]; then # Dev environment
-    KAFKAREST_LOG4J_OPTS="-Dlog4j.configuration=file:$base_dir/config/log4j2.yaml"
+    KAFKAREST_LOG4J_OPTS="-Dlog4j2.configurationFile=$base_dir/config/log4j2.yaml"
   elif [ -e "$base_dir/etc/kafka-rest/log4j2.yaml" ]; then # Simple zip file layout
-    KAFKAREST_LOG4J_OPTS="-Dlog4j.configuration=file:$base_dir/etc/kafka-rest/log4j2.yaml"
+    KAFKAREST_LOG4J_OPTS="-Dlog4j2.configurationFile=$base_dir/etc/kafka-rest/log4j2.yaml"
   elif [ -e "/etc/kafka-rest/log4j2.yaml" ]; then # Normal install layout
-    KAFKAREST_LOG4J_OPTS="-Dlog4j.configuration=file:/etc/kafka-rest/log4j2.yaml"
+    KAFKAREST_LOG4J_OPTS="-Dlog4j2.configurationFile=/etc/kafka-rest/log4j2.yaml"
   fi
 fi
 
diff --git a/config/log4j2.yaml b/config/log4j2.yaml
index 257ce20af2..69c8724f17 100644
--- a/config/log4j2.yaml
+++ b/config/log4j2.yaml
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ Configuration:
   Properties:
     Property:
       # Fallback if the system property is not set
-      - name: "kafka-rest.logs.dir"
-        value: "."
+      - name: "kafka-rest.log.dir"
+        value: "./logs"
   Appenders:
     RollingFile:
       name: "file"
       fileName: "${sys:kafka-rest.log.dir}/kafka-rest.log"
-      filePattern: "/kafka-rest.log.%i"
+      filePattern: "${sys:kafka-rest.log.dir}/kafka-rest.log.%i"
       PatternLayout:
         pattern: "[%d] %p %m (%c)%n"
       Policies: