diff --git a/config.js b/config.js
index 71a2b5d7bdbc2b0c25e2d55a085f0873e4bdaf0d..6b232a5a81f513a6d7a9f514d607ede0f89287a4 100644
--- a/config.js
+++ b/config.js
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ module.exports = {
     databaseURL: 'mongodb://localhost:27017/',
     port: 4000,
     secret: 'longsecretislong',
-    logLevel: 'verbose',
+    logLevel: 'verbose',        // possible values: error, warn, info, verbose or debug
     logFile: 'log.txt',
     admin: {
       username: 'admin',
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ module.exports = {
     databaseURL: 'mongodb://database:27017/',
     port: 4000,
     secret: 'longsecretislong',
-    logLevel: 'warn',
+    logLevel: 'warn',         // possible values: error, warn, info, verbose or debug
     logFile: 'villasweb-backend_log.txt',
     admin: {
       username: 'admin',
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index a85ffe27f2395d9ab6a7c9bba002158c29d2fef7..d3220bdb0b1e5b2620aca6bba7394a7de052250f 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -51,19 +51,22 @@ var config = require('./config')[app.get('env')];
 if (config.logLevel) {
   logger.transports.console.level = config.logLevel;
 
-  // enable debug output for verbose
-  if (config.logLevel == 'verbose') {
+  // enable debug output for mongoose
+  if (config.logLevel == 'debug' || config.logLevel == 'silly') {
     mongoose.set('debug', function(coll, method, query, doc) {
-      logger.log('verbose', '[Mongoose]', { coll, method, query, doc });
+      logger.log('debug', '[Mongoose]', { coll, method, query, doc });
     });
   }
 }
 
 if (config.logFile) {
   logger.transports.file.filename = config.logFile;
+  logger.transports.file.level = config.logLevel;
   logger.transports.file.silent = false;
 }
 
+logger.info('--- Started VILLASweb backend ---');
+
 // configure app
 app.use(expressWinston.logger({ winstonInstance: logger }));
 app.use(bodyParser.json());
@@ -111,7 +114,7 @@ app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
 
 // start the app
 app.listen(config.port, function() {
-  logger.info('Express server listening on port ' + config.port);
+  logger.info('Server listening on port ' + config.port);
 });
 
 // add admin account