diff --git a/charts/maas/templates/bin/_start-syslog.sh.tpl b/charts/maas/templates/bin/_start-syslog.sh.tpl
index 924d9be..bbeff91 100644
--- a/charts/maas/templates/bin/_start-syslog.sh.tpl
+++ b/charts/maas/templates/bin/_start-syslog.sh.tpl
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ RSYSLOG_BIN=${RSYSLOG_BIN:-"/usr/sbin/rsyslogd"}
 RSYSLOG_CONFFILE=${RSYSLOG_CONFFILE:-"/etc/rsyslog.conf"}
 LOGFILE=${LOGFILE:-"/var/log/maas/nodeboot.log"}
 
+if [ ! -f "$LOGFILE" ]; then
+  touch "$LOGFILE"
+fi
+
 $RSYSLOG_BIN -f "$RSYSLOG_CONFFILE"
 
 # Handle race waiting for rsyslogd to start logging