diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 549e00a..2e8c18d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -31,3 +31,6 @@ build/
 
 ### VS Code ###
 .vscode/
+
+### Application logs ###
+logs/
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index ea6349e..dd6f6a2 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -20,6 +20,18 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
 			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
+
+			<!-- Exclude default loggers	-->
+			<exclusions>
+				<exclusion>
+					<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+					<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
+				</exclusion>
+				<exclusion>
+					<groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
+					<artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
+				</exclusion>
+			</exclusions>
 		</dependency>
 
 		<dependency>
@@ -53,6 +65,24 @@
 			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
+<!--		<dependency>-->
+<!--			<groupId>com.lmax</groupId>-->
+<!--			<artifactId>disruptor</artifactId>-->
+<!--			<version>4.0.0</version>-->
+<!--		</dependency>-->
+
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>com.lmax</groupId>
+			<artifactId>disruptor</artifactId>
+			<version>3.4.2</version>
+		</dependency>
+
+
+		<!-- Add Log4j2 Dependency -->
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-log4j2</artifactId>
+		</dependency>
 	</dependencies>
 
 	<build>
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application.properties b/src/main/resources/application.properties
index 3e6bdaf..5140075 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -8,3 +8,7 @@ solr.collection=TMF-index-openaire
 solr.zkHosts=zookeeper-solr-openaire-dev-1:2181,zookeeper-solr-openaire-dev-2:2181,zookeeper-solr-openaire-dev-3:2181
 
 logging.level.org.springframework.web=DEBUG
+
+#removes 'trace' field from error responses; alternatively remove 'spring-boot-devtools' dependency
+server.error.include-stacktrace=never 
+
diff --git a/src/main/resources/log4j2.component.properties b/src/main/resources/log4j2.component.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee7c907
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/log4j2.component.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Log4jContextSelector=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.async.AsyncLoggerContextSelector
diff --git a/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml b/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a25c665
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<Configuration status="trace">
+    <Properties>
+        <Property name="logpath-location">logs/</Property>
+        <Property name="logfile-name">api.log</Property>
+        <Property name="archive">${logpath-location}/archive/api</Property>
+        <Property name="interval">10</Property>
+    </Properties>
+
+    <Appenders>
+        <Console name="Console">
+            <PatternLayout pattern="%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,SSS} [%t] %-5p %C.%M():%L %X - %m%n"/>
+        </Console>
+
+        <RollingFile name="RollingFileAppender" fileName="${logpath-location}/${logfile-name}"
+                     filePattern="${archive}/${logfile-name}.%d{yyyy-MM-dd-HH}.gz">
+
+            <PatternLayout pattern="%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,SSS} [%t] %-5p %c.%M ():%L %X - %m%n"/>
+
+            <Policies>
+                <!-- New log file every day  -->
+                <TimeBasedTriggeringPolicy interval="1" />
+            </Policies>
+
+            <!-- Keep 30 rolling files for logging  -->
+            <DefaultRolloverStrategy max="30"/>
+
+        </RollingFile>
+    </Appenders>
+
+    <Loggers>
+        <Logger name="com.projects.spring_web_service" level="DEBUG" additivity="false" includeLocation="true">
+            <AppenderRef ref="Console" level="INFO"/>
+            <AppenderRef ref="RollingFileAppender" level="DEBUG"/>
+        </Logger>
+
+        <Root level="INFO" includeLocation="true">
+            <AppenderRef ref="Console" level="INFO"/>
+            <AppenderRef ref="RollingFileAppender" level="DEBUG"/>
+        </Root>
+    </Loggers>
+
+</Configuration>
\ No newline at end of file