diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java
index 39a8034f1b2..5caccf764b1 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.qjournal.server;
 
+import static org.apache.hadoop.util.ExitUtil.terminate;
+
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileFilter;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -307,7 +309,12 @@ public class JournalNode implements Tool, Configurable, JournalNodeMXBean {
 
   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
     StringUtils.startupShutdownMessage(JournalNode.class, args, LOG);
-    System.exit(ToolRunner.run(new JournalNode(), args));
+    try {
+      System.exit(ToolRunner.run(new JournalNode(), args));
+    } catch (Throwable e) {
+      LOG.error("Failed to start journalnode.", e);
+      terminate(-1, e);
+    }
   }
 
   public void discardSegments(String journalId, long startTxId)