diff --git a/bench/lib/context.go b/bench/lib/context.go
index 70ec7e6621d..32fded67dbf 100644
--- a/bench/lib/context.go
+++ b/bench/lib/context.go
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@ type RuntimeContext struct {
 
 // NewRuntimeContext builds a runtime context from the config
 func NewRuntimeContext(cfg *Config) (*RuntimeContext, error) {
-	logger := cfg.Log.NewZapLogger()
+	logger, err := cfg.Log.NewZapLogger()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 
 	metricsScope := cfg.Metrics.NewScope(loggerimpl.NewLogger(logger), cfg.Bench.Name)
 
diff --git a/canary/runner.go b/canary/runner.go
index 695b6143477..e965231c5bd 100644
--- a/canary/runner.go
+++ b/canary/runner.go
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ type canaryRunner struct {
 // NewCanaryRunner creates and returns a runnable which spins
 // up a set of canaries based on supplied config
 func NewCanaryRunner(cfg *Config) (Runnable, error) {
-	logger := cfg.Log.NewZapLogger()
+	logger, err := cfg.Log.NewZapLogger()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create logger: %v", err)
+	}
 
 	metricsScope := cfg.Metrics.NewScope(loggerimpl.NewLogger(logger), "cadence-canary")
 
diff --git a/cmd/server/cadence/server.go b/cmd/server/cadence/server.go
index b366dbd005e..4d1848d79b1 100644
--- a/cmd/server/cadence/server.go
+++ b/cmd/server/cadence/server.go
@@ -102,12 +102,14 @@ func (s *server) Stop() {
 
 // startService starts a service with the given name and config
 func (s *server) startService() common.Daemon {
-
-	var err error
-
 	params := service.BootstrapParams{}
 	params.Name = "cadence-" + s.name
-	params.Logger = loggerimpl.NewLogger(s.cfg.Log.NewZapLogger())
+
+	zapLogger, err := s.cfg.Log.NewZapLogger()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal("failed to create the zap logger, err: ", err.Error())
+	}
+	params.Logger = loggerimpl.NewLogger(zapLogger)
 	params.UpdateLoggerWithServiceName(params.Name)
 	params.PersistenceConfig = s.cfg.Persistence
 
diff --git a/common/service/config/log.go b/common/service/config/log.go
index f6251fecabe..cc7489f23d9 100644
--- a/common/service/config/log.go
+++ b/common/service/config/log.go
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ import (
 const fileMode = os.FileMode(0644)
 
 // NewZapLogger builds and returns a new zap
-// logger for this logging configuration
-func (cfg *Logger) NewZapLogger() *zap.Logger {
+// logger for logging configuration
+func (cfg *Logger) NewZapLogger() (*zap.Logger, error) {
 	encodeConfig := zapcore.EncoderConfig{
 		TimeKey:        "ts",
 		LevelKey:       "level",
@@ -64,8 +64,7 @@ func (cfg *Logger) NewZapLogger() *zap.Logger {
 		OutputPaths:      []string{outputPath},
 		ErrorOutputPaths: []string{outputPath},
 	}
-	logger, _ := config.Build()
-	return logger
+	return config.Build()
 }
 
 func parseZapLevel(level string) zapcore.Level {
diff --git a/common/service/config/log_test.go b/common/service/config/log_test.go
index 946de7910f8..e1842741e19 100644
--- a/common/service/config/log_test.go
+++ b/common/service/config/log_test.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func (s *LogSuite) TestNewLogger() {
 		OutputFile: dir + "/test.log",
 	}
 
-	log := config.NewZapLogger()
+	log, _ := config.NewZapLogger()
 	s.NotNil(log)
 	_, err = os.Stat(dir + "/test.log")
 	s.Nil(err)
diff --git a/tools/cli/domainUtils.go b/tools/cli/domainUtils.go
index 3359ff3405d..7b27d8abd49 100644
--- a/tools/cli/domainUtils.go
+++ b/tools/cli/domainUtils.go
@@ -299,7 +299,11 @@ func initializeDomainHandler(
 func initializeLogger(
 	serviceConfig *config.Config,
 ) log.Logger {
-	return loggerimpl.NewLogger(serviceConfig.Log.NewZapLogger())
+	zapLogger, err := serviceConfig.Log.NewZapLogger()
+	if err != nil {
+		ErrorAndExit("failed to create zap logger, err: ", err)
+	}
+	return loggerimpl.NewLogger(zapLogger)
 }
 
 func initializeMetadataMgr(