diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/include/eal_private.h b/lib/librte_eal/common/include/eal_private.h
index d8c7498150..314ee3091e 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/include/eal_private.h
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/include/eal_private.h
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ int rte_eal_log_early_init(void);
  * @return
  *   0 on success, negative on error
  */
-int rte_eal_log_init(void);
+int rte_eal_log_init(const char *id, int facility);
 
 /**
  * Init the default log stream
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal.c b/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal.c
index afa0cce929..c0e50f9b78 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal.c
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <pthread.h>
+#include <syslog.h>
 #include <getopt.h>
 #include <sys/file.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@
 #define OPT_NO_HUGE     "no-huge"
 #define OPT_FILE_PREFIX "file-prefix"
 #define OPT_SOCKET_MEM  "socket-mem"
+#define OPT_SYSLOG      "syslog"
 
 #define RTE_EAL_BLACKLIST_SIZE	0x100
 
@@ -320,6 +322,7 @@ eal_usage(const char *prgname)
 	       "                 (multiple -b options are allowed)\n"
 	       "  -m MB        : memory to allocate (see also --"OPT_SOCKET_MEM")\n"
 	       "  -r NUM       : force number of memory ranks (don't detect)\n"
+	       "  --"OPT_SYSLOG"     : set syslog facility\n"
 	       "  --"OPT_SOCKET_MEM" : memory to allocate on specific \n"
 		   "                 sockets (use comma separated values)\n"
 	       "  --"OPT_HUGE_DIR"   : directory where hugetlbfs is mounted\n"
@@ -386,6 +389,45 @@ eal_parse_coremask(const char *coremask)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int
+eal_parse_syslog(const char *facility)
+{
+	int i;
+	static struct {
+		const char *name;
+		int value;
+	} map[] = {
+		{ "auth", LOG_AUTH },
+		{ "cron", LOG_CRON },
+		{ "daemon", LOG_DAEMON },
+		{ "ftp", LOG_FTP },
+		{ "kern", LOG_KERN },
+		{ "lpr", LOG_LPR },
+		{ "mail", LOG_MAIL },
+		{ "news", LOG_NEWS },
+		{ "syslog", LOG_SYSLOG },
+		{ "user", LOG_USER },
+		{ "uucp", LOG_UUCP },
+		{ "local0", LOG_LOCAL0 },
+		{ "local1", LOG_LOCAL1 },
+		{ "local2", LOG_LOCAL2 },
+		{ "local3", LOG_LOCAL3 },
+		{ "local4", LOG_LOCAL4 },
+		{ "local5", LOG_LOCAL5 },
+		{ "local6", LOG_LOCAL6 },
+		{ "local7", LOG_LOCAL7 },
+		{ NULL, 0 }
+	};
+
+	for (i = 0; map[i].name; i++) {
+		if (!strcmp(facility, map[i].name)) {
+			internal_config.syslog_facility = map[i].value;
+			return 0;
+		}
+	}
+	return -1;
+}
+
 static int
 eal_parse_socket_mem(char *socket_mem)
 {
@@ -516,6 +558,7 @@ eal_parse_args(int argc, char **argv)
 		{OPT_PROC_TYPE, 1, 0, 0},
 		{OPT_FILE_PREFIX, 1, 0, 0},
 		{OPT_SOCKET_MEM, 1, 0, 0},
+		{OPT_SYSLOG, 1, NULL, 0},
 		{0, 0, 0, 0}
 	};
 
@@ -527,6 +570,7 @@ eal_parse_args(int argc, char **argv)
 	internal_config.hugefile_prefix = HUGEFILE_PREFIX_DEFAULT;
 	internal_config.hugepage_dir = NULL;
 	internal_config.force_sockets = 0;
+	internal_config.syslog_facility = LOG_DAEMON;
 #ifdef RTE_LIBEAL_USE_HPET
 	internal_config.no_hpet = 0;
 #else
@@ -625,6 +669,14 @@ eal_parse_args(int argc, char **argv)
 					return -1;
 				}
 			}
+			else if (!strcmp(lgopts[option_index].name, OPT_SYSLOG)) {
+				if (eal_parse_syslog(optarg) < 0) {
+					RTE_LOG(ERR, EAL, "invalid parameters for --"
+							OPT_SYSLOG "\n");
+					eal_usage(prgname);
+					return -1;
+				}
+			}
 			break;
 
 		default:
@@ -730,10 +782,14 @@ rte_eal_init(int argc, char **argv)
 	int i, fctret, ret;
 	pthread_t thread_id;
 	static rte_atomic32_t run_once = RTE_ATOMIC32_INIT(0);
+	const char *logid;
 
 	if (!rte_atomic32_test_and_set(&run_once))
 		return -1;
 
+	logid = strrchr(argv[0], '/');
+	logid = strdup(logid ? logid + 1: argv[0]);
+
 	thread_id = pthread_self();
 
 	if (rte_eal_log_early_init() < 0)
@@ -774,7 +830,7 @@ rte_eal_init(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (rte_eal_tailqs_init() < 0)
 		rte_panic("Cannot init tail queues for objects\n");
 
-	if (rte_eal_log_init() < 0)
+	if (rte_eal_log_init(logid, internal_config.syslog_facility) < 0)
 		rte_panic("Cannot init logs\n");
 
 	if (rte_eal_alarm_init() < 0)
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal_log.c b/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal_log.c
index 7a79659d4f..afdc66b050 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal_log.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/eal_log.c
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ static cookie_io_functions_t console_log_func = {
  * once memzones are available.
  */
 int
-rte_eal_log_init(void)
+rte_eal_log_init(const char *id, int facility)
 {
 	FILE *log_stream;
 
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ rte_eal_log_init(void)
 	if (log_stream == NULL)
 		return -1;
 
-	openlog("rte", LOG_NDELAY | LOG_PID, LOG_DAEMON);
+	openlog(id, LOG_NDELAY | LOG_PID, facility);
 
 	if (rte_eal_common_log_init(log_stream) < 0)
 		return -1;
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/include/eal_internal_cfg.h b/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/include/eal_internal_cfg.h
index 6e92df8b0a..0e5fc06077 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/include/eal_internal_cfg.h
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/linuxapp/eal/include/eal_internal_cfg.h
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ struct internal_config {
 	/* true to try allocating memory on specific sockets */
 	volatile unsigned force_sockets;
 	volatile uint64_t socket_mem[RTE_MAX_NUMA_NODES]; /**< amount of memory per socket*/
+	volatile int syslog_facility;	  /**< facility passed to openlog() */
 	const char *hugefile_prefix;      /**< the base filename of hugetlbfs files */
 	const char *hugepage_dir;         /**< specific hugetlbfs directory to use */