diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ExternalNode.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ExternalNode.java
index 20d11940754..51440ba6d49 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ExternalNode.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ExternalNode.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.node.info.NodesInfoResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Client;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.transport.TransportClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterName;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.Loggers;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.transport.TransportAddress;
@@ -53,6 +55,9 @@ final class ExternalNode implements Closeable {
     private final String clusterName;
     private TransportClient client;
 
+    private final ESLogger logger = Loggers.getLogger(getClass());
+
+
     ExternalNode(File path, long seed, SettingsSource settingsSource) {
         this(path, null, seed, settingsSource);
     }
@@ -109,6 +114,7 @@ final class ExternalNode implements Closeable {
         builder.inheritIO();
         boolean success = false;
         try {
+            logger.debug("starting external node [{}] with: {}", nodeName, builder.command());
             process = builder.start();
             this.nodeInfo = null;
             if (waitForNode(client, nodeName)) {