diff --git a/config/logging.yml b/config/logging.yml
index a76eb175fc4..035106eeec6 100644
--- a/config/logging.yml
+++ b/config/logging.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ rootLogger: ${es.logger.level}, console, file
 logger:
   # log action execution errors for easier debugging
   action: DEBUG
+
+  # deprecation logging, turn to DEBUG to see them
+  deprecation: INFO, deprecation_log_file
+
   # reduce the logging for aws, too much is logged under the default INFO
   com.amazonaws: WARN
   org.apache.http: INFO
@@ -24,6 +28,7 @@ logger:
 additivity:
   index.search.slowlog: false
   index.indexing.slowlog: false
+  deprecation: false
 
 appender:
   console:
@@ -51,6 +56,14 @@ appender:
       #type: pattern
       #conversionPattern: "[%d{ISO8601}][%-5p][%-25c] %m%n"
 
+  deprecation_log_file:
+    type: dailyRollingFile
+    file: ${path.logs}/${cluster.name}_deprecation.log
+    datePattern: "'.'yyyy-MM-dd"
+    layout:
+      type: pattern
+      conversionPattern: "[%d{ISO8601}][%-5p][%-25c] %m%n"
+
   index_search_slow_log_file:
     type: dailyRollingFile
     file: ${path.logs}/${cluster.name}_index_search_slowlog.log
diff --git a/docs/reference/setup/configuration.asciidoc b/docs/reference/setup/configuration.asciidoc
index eed595e25ba..c6ae144e78e 100644
--- a/docs/reference/setup/configuration.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/setup/configuration.asciidoc
@@ -337,3 +337,20 @@ the http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/manual.html[log4j documentation].
 Additional Appenders and other logging classes provided by 
 http://logging.apache.org/log4j/extras/[log4j-extras] are also available, 
 out of the box.
+
+==== Deprecation logging
+
+In addition to regular logging, Elasticsearch allows you to enable logging
+of deprecated actions. For example this allows you to determine early, if
+you need to migrate certain functionality in the future. By default,
+deprecation logging is disabled. You can enable it in the `config/logging.yml`
+file by setting the deprecation log level to `DEBUG`.
+
+[source,yaml]
+--------------------------------------------------
+deprecation: DEBUG, deprecation_log_file
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+This will create a daily rolling deprecation log file in your log directory.
+Check this file regularly, especially when you intend to upgrade to a new
+major version.
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/component/AbstractComponent.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/component/AbstractComponent.java
index 353d27747cd..a31bf119402 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/component/AbstractComponent.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/component/AbstractComponent.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.component;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.DeprecationLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.Loggers;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -29,16 +30,18 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 public abstract class AbstractComponent {
 
     protected final ESLogger logger;
-
+    protected final DeprecationLogger deprecationLogger;
     protected final Settings settings;
 
     public AbstractComponent(Settings settings) {
         this.logger = Loggers.getLogger(getClass(), settings);
+        this.deprecationLogger = new DeprecationLogger(logger);
         this.settings = settings;
     }
 
     public AbstractComponent(Settings settings, Class customClass) {
         this.logger = Loggers.getLogger(customClass, settings);
+        this.deprecationLogger = new DeprecationLogger(logger);
         this.settings = settings;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/DeprecationLogger.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/DeprecationLogger.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..870b5f61466
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/DeprecationLogger.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.common.logging;
+
+/**
+ * A logger that logs deprecation notices.
+ */
+public class DeprecationLogger {
+
+    private final ESLogger logger;
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new deprecation logger based on the parent logger. Automatically
+     * prefixes the logger name with "deprecation", if it starts with "org.elasticsearch.",
+     * it replaces "org.elasticsearch" with "org.elasticsearch.deprecation" to maintain
+     * the "org.elasticsearch" namespace.
+     */
+    public DeprecationLogger(ESLogger parentLogger) {
+        String name = parentLogger.getName();
+        if (name.startsWith("org.elasticsearch")) {
+            name = name.replace("org.elasticsearch.", "org.elasticsearch.deprecation.");
+        } else {
+            name = "deprecation." + name;
+        }
+        this.logger = ESLoggerFactory.getLogger(parentLogger.getPrefix(), name);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Logs a deprecated message.
+     */
+    public void deprecated(String msg, Object... params) {
+        logger.debug(msg, params);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/ESLoggerFactory.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/ESLoggerFactory.java
index 67434293b6e..a0645c6a4d3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/ESLoggerFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/ESLoggerFactory.java
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ public abstract class ESLoggerFactory {
         return defaultFactory.newInstance(name.intern());
     }
 
+    public static DeprecationLogger getDeprecationLogger(String name) {
+        return new DeprecationLogger(getLogger(name));
+    }
+
+    public static DeprecationLogger getDeprecationLogger(String prefix, String name) {
+        return new DeprecationLogger(getLogger(prefix, name));
+    }
+
     public static ESLogger getRootLogger() {
         return defaultFactory.rootLogger();
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerFactory.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerFactory.java
index 1bfb2d83d6a..b95e0987c90 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerFactory.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.logging.log4j;
 
-import org.apache.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLoggerFactory;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/AbstractIndexComponent.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/AbstractIndexComponent.java
index 6b2cd15a18d..3cfecc4cf07 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/AbstractIndexComponent.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/AbstractIndexComponent.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.index;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.DeprecationLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.Loggers;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -30,9 +31,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.settings.IndexSettings;
 public abstract class AbstractIndexComponent implements IndexComponent {
 
     protected final ESLogger logger;
-
+    protected final DeprecationLogger deprecationLogger;
     protected final Index index;
-
     protected final Settings indexSettings;
 
     /**
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractIndexComponent implements IndexComponent {
         this.index = index;
         this.indexSettings = indexSettings;
         this.logger = Loggers.getLogger(getClass(), indexSettings, index);
+        this.deprecationLogger = new DeprecationLogger(logger);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/AbstractIndexShardComponent.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/AbstractIndexShardComponent.java
index 9f9bdd5bde2..bb19dd49080 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/AbstractIndexShardComponent.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/AbstractIndexShardComponent.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.index.shard;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.DeprecationLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.Loggers;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -30,15 +31,15 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.settings.IndexSettings;
 public abstract class AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndexShardComponent {
 
     protected final ESLogger logger;
-
+    protected final DeprecationLogger deprecationLogger;
     protected final ShardId shardId;
-
     protected final Settings indexSettings;
 
     protected AbstractIndexShardComponent(ShardId shardId, @IndexSettings Settings indexSettings) {
         this.shardId = shardId;
         this.indexSettings = indexSettings;
         this.logger = Loggers.getLogger(getClass(), indexSettings, shardId);
+        this.deprecationLogger = new DeprecationLogger(logger);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/jdk/JDKESLoggerTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/jdk/JDKESLoggerTests.java
index 2588912467b..d236ad5ecf8 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/jdk/JDKESLoggerTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/jdk/JDKESLoggerTests.java
@@ -91,7 +91,6 @@ public class JDKESLoggerTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         assertThat(record.getMessage(), equalTo("This is a trace"));
         assertThat(record.getSourceClassName(), equalTo(JDKESLoggerTests.class.getCanonicalName()));
         assertThat(record.getSourceMethodName(), equalTo("locationInfoTest"));
-        
     }
 
     private static class TestHandler extends Handler {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerTests.java
index d854b2bd33d..f0d0c076eba 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/logging/log4j/Log4jESLoggerTests.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.apache.log4j.Level;
 import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.log4j.spi.LocationInfo;
 import org.apache.log4j.spi.LoggingEvent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.DeprecationLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchTestCase;
@@ -42,6 +43,8 @@ public class Log4jESLoggerTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
     private ESLogger esTestLogger;
     private TestAppender testAppender;
     private String testLevel;
+    private DeprecationLogger deprecationLogger;
+    private TestAppender deprecationAppender;
 
     @Override
     public void setUp() throws Exception {
@@ -61,6 +64,13 @@ public class Log4jESLoggerTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         assertThat(testLogger.getLevel(), equalTo(Level.TRACE));
         testAppender = new TestAppender();
         testLogger.addAppender(testAppender);
+
+        // deprecation setup, needs to be set to debug to log
+        deprecationLogger = Log4jESLoggerFactory.getDeprecationLogger("test");
+        deprecationAppender = new TestAppender();
+        ESLogger logger = Log4jESLoggerFactory.getLogger("deprecation.test");
+        logger.setLevel("DEBUG");
+        (((Log4jESLogger) logger).logger()).addAppender(deprecationAppender);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -70,6 +80,8 @@ public class Log4jESLoggerTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         esTestLogger.setLevel(testLevel);
         Logger testLogger = ((Log4jESLogger) esTestLogger).logger();
         testLogger.removeAppender(testAppender);
+        Logger deprecationLogger = ((Log4jESLogger) Log4jESLoggerFactory.getLogger("deprecation.test")).logger();
+        deprecationLogger.removeAppender(deprecationAppender);
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -122,7 +134,16 @@ public class Log4jESLoggerTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         assertThat(locationInfo, notNullValue());
         assertThat(locationInfo.getClassName(), equalTo(Log4jESLoggerTests.class.getCanonicalName()));
         assertThat(locationInfo.getMethodName(), equalTo("locationInfoTest"));
-        
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDeprecationLogger() {
+        deprecationLogger.deprecated("This is a deprecation message");
+        List<LoggingEvent> deprecationEvents = deprecationAppender.getEvents();
+        LoggingEvent event = deprecationEvents.get(0);
+        assertThat(event, notNullValue());
+        assertThat(event.getLevel(), equalTo(Level.DEBUG));
+        assertThat(event.getRenderedMessage(), equalTo("This is a deprecation message"));
     }
 
     private static class TestAppender extends AppenderSkeleton {