diff --git a/backup.sh b/backup.sh
index f8fee2ec1eff8664058d113a3763ddcf75634e54..dc7da6e9cf80ea2d7c03e3bccf9a91f65ea2e0a1 100755
--- a/backup.sh
+++ b/backup.sh
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ function backup {
     NARG_NAME=$1
     NARG_FILE=$2
     shift 2
-    echo $MYSQLDUMP_CMD
 	# parameters: connection, database, outfile
 	if [ -e "$NARG_FILE" ]; then
 		failure "dumpfile already exists."
diff --git a/log.py b/log.py
index d347c9dbc27a7f425c1a44b37629a51b699f1416..d8d6b9f3bf10662c16e8e390746a30ed2343f282 100755
--- a/log.py
+++ b/log.py
@@ -31,28 +31,6 @@ SQL_BASE = ["mysql", "--batch",
             "--user=caosdb", "--password=random1234",
             "--host=sqldb", "--port=3306"]
 
-test_yaml = """
-action: log
-log_action: storeoff
-"""
-
-
-def exec(args):
-    "Executing the logging action action."
-    action = args["log_action"]
-
-    result = None
-
-    if action.startswith("store"):
-        result = {"tsv_content": _store_log()}
-
-    if action.endswith("on"):
-        _logging(True)
-    elif action.endswith("off"):
-        _logging(False)
-
-    return result
-
 
 def _store_log():
     """Retrieves the log table and returns it as a TSV string.
diff --git a/log.sh b/log.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1b4cf35ef3a422f492133f1ce276ebd1dd066d21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/log.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# ** header v3.0
+# This file is a part of the CaosDB Project.
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2018 Research Group Biomedical Physics,
+# Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Göttingen
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+# License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+# ** end header
+#
+
+#start and stop logging; get current logs
+
+. .config
+# load useful stuff - scans the parameters and so on...
+. patches/utils/patch_header.sh
+
+function set_logging { 
+    echo "Setting logging $1..."
+    echo "SET GLOBAL log_output = 'TABLE'; SET GLOBAL general_log = '$1';" | \
+        $MYSQL_CMD $MYSQL_CONNECTION --batch 
+	success
+}
+
+case $1 in
+    "start") set_logging "on" ;;
+    "stop") set_logging "off" ;;
+    "get") get_logs ;;
+    *) echo "Unknown argument: $1"; exit 1
+esac