diff --git a/tools/generate_report.rb b/tools/generate_report.rb
index e020f5230da..d0ac13a2ff7 100755
--- a/tools/generate_report.rb
+++ b/tools/generate_report.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 options = Optimist.options do
   opt :user, "userid", :default => "admin"
   opt :report_name_or_id, "report name or report id", :short => "n", :type => :string
+  opt :log_level, "log level (#{Vmdb::LogProxy::LEVELS.join(", ")})", :type => :string
 end
 
 # backward compatibility
@@ -15,6 +16,13 @@
   options[:report_name_or_id] = ARGV[0]
 end
 
+if options[:log_level]
+  Optimist.die "Log level #{options[:log_level]} is not supported, supported levels are: #{Vmdb::LogProxy::LEVELS.join(", ")}" unless Vmdb::LogProxy::LEVELS.include?(options[:log_level].to_sym)
+  $log = VMDBLogger.new(STDOUT)
+  $log.level = Vmdb::LogProxy::LEVELS.index(options[:log_level].to_sym)
+  puts "Logging on standard output, log level set to: #{options[:log_level]}"
+end
+
 REPORT_PARAMS = {:userid => options[:user], :mode => "async", :report_source => "Requested by user"}.freeze
 
 def report_from_args(options)