diff --git a/cmd/cgr-engine/cgr-engine.go b/cmd/cgr-engine/cgr-engine.go
index 077eed670..edf9c4bc2 100644
--- a/cmd/cgr-engine/cgr-engine.go
+++ b/cmd/cgr-engine/cgr-engine.go
@@ -59,14 +59,11 @@ const (
 var (
 	cfgDir            = flag.String("config_dir", utils.CONFIG_DIR, "Configuration directory path.")
 	version           = flag.Bool("version", false, "Prints the application version.")
-	raterEnabled      = flag.Bool("rater", false, "Enforce starting of the rater daemon overwriting config")
-	schedEnabled      = flag.Bool("scheduler", false, "Enforce starting of the scheduler daemon .overwriting config")
-	cdrsEnabled       = flag.Bool("cdrs", false, "Enforce starting of the cdrs daemon overwriting config")
 	pidFile           = flag.String("pid", "", "Write pid file")
 	cpuprofile        = flag.String("cpuprofile", "", "write cpu profile to file")
 	scheduledShutdown = flag.String("scheduled_shutdown", "", "shutdown the engine after this duration")
 	singlecpu         = flag.Bool("singlecpu", false, "Run on single CPU core")
-	logLevel          = flag.Int("log_level", 8, "Log level (2-alert to 9-debug)")
+	logLevel          = flag.Int("log_level", -1, "Log level (0-emergency to 7-debug)")
 
 	cfg   *config.CGRConfig
 	smRpc *v1.SessionManagerV1
@@ -569,24 +566,20 @@ func main() {
 			exitChan <- true
 		}()
 	}
-	utils.Logger.SetLogLevel(*logLevel)
+
 	cfg, err = config.NewCGRConfigFromFolder(*cfgDir)
 	if err != nil {
-		utils.Logger.Crit(fmt.Sprintf("Could not parse config: %s exiting!", err))
+		log.Fatalf("Could not parse config: ", err)
 		return
 	}
+	lgLevel := cfg.LogLevel
+	if *logLevel != -1 { // Modify the log level if provided by command arguments
+		lgLevel = *logLevel
+	}
+	utils.Logger.SetLogLevel(lgLevel)
 	config.SetCgrConfig(cfg) // Share the config object
 	cache.NewCache(cfg.CacheConfig)
 
-	if *raterEnabled {
-		cfg.RALsEnabled = *raterEnabled
-	}
-	if *schedEnabled {
-		cfg.SchedulerEnabled = *schedEnabled
-	}
-	if *cdrsEnabled {
-		cfg.CDRSEnabled = *cdrsEnabled
-	}
 	var ratingDb engine.RatingStorage
 	var accountDb engine.AccountingStorage
 	var loadDb engine.LoadStorage
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index b9738ed5d..a7acb3ed2 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ type CGRConfig struct {
 	HttpFailedDir            string          // Directory path where we store failed http requests
 	MaxCallDuration          time.Duration   // The maximum call duration (used by responder when querying DerivedCharging) // ToDo: export it in configuration file
 	LockingTimeout           time.Duration   // locking mechanism timeout to avoid deadlocks
+	LogLevel                 int             // system wide log level, nothing higher than this will be logged
 	RALsEnabled              bool            // start standalone server (no balancer)
 	RALsBalancer             string          // balancer address host:port
 	RALsCDRStatSConns        []*HaPoolConfig // address where to reach the cdrstats service. Empty to disable stats gathering  <""|internal|x.y.z.y:1234>
@@ -755,6 +756,9 @@ func (self *CGRConfig) loadFromJsonCfg(jsnCfg *CgrJsonCfg) error {
 				return err
 			}
 		}
+		if jsnGeneralCfg.Log_level != nil {
+			self.LogLevel = *jsnGeneralCfg.Log_level
+		}
 	}
 
 	if jsnCacheCfg != nil {
diff --git a/config/config_defaults.go b/config/config_defaults.go
index 350927c97..f2868793f 100644
--- a/config/config_defaults.go
+++ b/config/config_defaults.go
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ const CGRATES_CFG_JSON = `
 	"response_cache_ttl": "0s",								// the life span of a cached response
 	"internal_ttl": "2m",									// maximum duration to wait for internal connections before giving up
 	"locking_timeout": "5s",								// timeout internal locks to avoid deadlocks
-	"cache_dump_dir": "",									 // cache dump for faster start (leave empty to disable)
+	"cache_dump_dir": "",									// cache dump for faster start (leave empty to disable)
+	"log_level": 6,											// control the level of messages logged (0-emerg to 7-debug)										
 },
 
 
diff --git a/config/config_json_test.go b/config/config_json_test.go
index bd7a52b3a..92a351e4f 100644
--- a/config/config_json_test.go
+++ b/config/config_json_test.go
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ func TestDfGeneralJsonCfg(t *testing.T) {
 		Reply_timeout:        utils.StringPointer("2s"),
 		Response_cache_ttl:   utils.StringPointer("0s"),
 		Internal_ttl:         utils.StringPointer("2m"),
-		Locking_timeout:      utils.StringPointer("5s")}
+		Locking_timeout:      utils.StringPointer("5s"),
+		Log_level:            utils.IntPointer(utils.LOGLEVEL_INFO)}
 	if gCfg, err := dfCgrJsonCfg.GeneralJsonCfg(); err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	} else if !reflect.DeepEqual(eCfg, gCfg) {
diff --git a/config/libconfig_json.go b/config/libconfig_json.go
index d85cf53dd..5fe70d3af 100644
--- a/config/libconfig_json.go
+++ b/config/libconfig_json.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ type GeneralJsonCfg struct {
 	Response_cache_ttl   *string
 	Internal_ttl         *string
 	Locking_timeout      *string
+	Log_level            *int
 }
 
 // Listen config section
diff --git a/utils/logger.go b/utils/logger.go
index 3acc9460a..6a958bcc8 100644
--- a/utils/logger.go
+++ b/utils/logger.go
@@ -43,29 +43,28 @@ func init() {
 type LoggerInterface interface {
 	SetSyslog(log *syslog.Writer)
 	SetLogLevel(level int)
-
 	GetSyslog() *syslog.Writer
-
-	Alert(m string) error
 	Close() error
-	Crit(m string) error
-	Debug(m string) error
 	Emerg(m string) error
+	Alert(m string) error
+	Crit(m string) error
 	Err(m string) error
-	Info(m string) error
-	Notice(m string) error
 	Warning(m string) error
+	Notice(m string) error
+	Info(m string) error
+	Debug(m string) error
 }
 
+// log severities following rfc3164
 const (
-	LOGLEVEL_DEBUG     = 9
-	LOGLEVEL_INFO      = 8
-	LOGLEVEL_NOTICE    = 7
-	LOGLEVEL_WARNING   = 6
-	LOGLEVEL_ERROR     = 5
-	LOGLEVEL_CRITICAL  = 4
-	LOGLEVEL_EMERGENCY = 3
-	LOGLEVEL_ALERT     = 2
+	LOGLEVEL_EMERGENCY = iota
+	LOGLEVEL_ALERT
+	LOGLEVEL_CRITICAL
+	LOGLEVEL_ERROR
+	LOGLEVEL_WARNING
+	LOGLEVEL_NOTICE
+	LOGLEVEL_INFO
+	LOGLEVEL_DEBUG
 )
 
 // Logs to standard output