diff --git a/src/aleph/vm/conf.py b/src/aleph/vm/conf.py
index 9a04d313..cf39a80e 100644
--- a/src/aleph/vm/conf.py
+++ b/src/aleph/vm/conf.py
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     # System logs make boot ~2x slower
     PRINT_SYSTEM_LOGS = False
     IGNORE_TRACEBACK_FROM_DIAGNOSTICS = True
+    LOG_LEVEL = "WARNING"
     DEBUG_ASYNCIO = False
 
     # Networking does not work inside Docker/Podman
diff --git a/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py b/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py
index 21712204..7366a083 100644
--- a/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py
+++ b/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def parse_args(args):
         help="set loglevel to INFO",
         action="store_const",
         const=logging.INFO,
-        default=logging.WARNING,
+        default=settings.LOG_LEVEL,
     )
     parser.add_argument(
         "-vv",
@@ -298,7 +298,12 @@ def main():
     )
     # log_format = "[%(asctime)s] p%(process)s {%(pathname)s:%(lineno)d} %(levelname)s - %(message)s"
 
-    setup_handlers(args, log_format)
+    handlers = setup_handlers(args, log_format)
+    logging.basicConfig(
+        level=args.loglevel,
+        format=log_format,
+        handlers=handlers,
+    )
 
     logging.getLogger("aiosqlite").setLevel(logging.WARNING)
     logging.getLogger("sqlalchemy.engine").setLevel(logging.WARNING)
diff --git a/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/custom_logs.py b/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/custom_logs.py
index 23758bfa..7cb6e982 100644
--- a/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/custom_logs.py
+++ b/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/custom_logs.py
@@ -49,8 +49,4 @@ def setup_handlers(args, log_format):
     non_execution_handler.setFormatter(
         logging.Formatter("%(asctime)s | %(levelname)s %(name)s:%(lineno)s | %(message)s ")
     )
-    logging.basicConfig(
-        level=args.loglevel,
-        format=log_format,
-        handlers=[non_execution_handler, execution_handler],
-    )
+    return [non_execution_handler, execution_handler]