diff --git a/embed/config.go b/embed/config.go
index d223b6696..096128cf1 100644
--- a/embed/config.go
+++ b/embed/config.go
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ const (
 	DefaultListenPeerURLs   = "http://localhost:2380"
 	DefaultListenClientURLs = "http://localhost:2379"
 
+	DefaultLogOutput = "default"
+
 	// maxElectionMs specifies the maximum value of election timeout.
 	// More details are listed in ../Documentation/tuning.md#time-parameters.
 	maxElectionMs = 50000
@@ -225,6 +227,7 @@ func NewConfig() *Config {
 		ClusterState:          ClusterStateFlagNew,
 		InitialClusterToken:   "etcd-cluster",
 		StrictReconfigCheck:   true,
+		LogOutput:             DefaultLogOutput,
 		Metrics:               "basic",
 		EnableV2:              true,
 		AuthToken:             "simple",
@@ -266,9 +269,9 @@ func (cfg *Config) SetupLogging() {
 		capnslog.SetFormatter(capnslog.NewPrettyFormatter(os.Stdout, cfg.Debug))
 	case "stderr":
 		capnslog.SetFormatter(capnslog.NewPrettyFormatter(os.Stderr, cfg.Debug))
-	case "default":
+	case DefaultLogOutput:
 	default:
-		plog.Panicf(`unknown log-output %q (only supports "default", "stdout", "stderr")`, cfg.LogOutput)
+		plog.Panicf(`unknown log-output %q (only supports %q, "stdout", "stderr")`, cfg.LogOutput, DefaultLogOutput)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/etcdmain/config.go b/etcdmain/config.go
index a186a3510..75ba112b3 100644
--- a/etcdmain/config.go
+++ b/etcdmain/config.go
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ func newConfig() *config {
 	// logging
 	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.Debug, "debug", false, "Enable debug-level logging for etcd.")
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.LogPkgLevels, "log-package-levels", "", "Specify a particular log level for each etcd package (eg: 'etcdmain=CRITICAL,etcdserver=DEBUG').")
-	fs.StringVar(&cfg.LogOutput, "log-output", "default", "Specify 'stdout' or 'stderr' to skip journald logging even when running under systemd.")
+	fs.StringVar(&cfg.LogOutput, "log-output", embed.DefaultLogOutput, "Specify 'stdout' or 'stderr' to skip journald logging even when running under systemd.")
 
 	// unsafe
 	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.ForceNewCluster, "force-new-cluster", false, "Force to create a new one member cluster.")