diff --git a/tools/package/etc/startup.properties b/tools/package/etc/startup.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..086936d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/package/etc/startup.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Valid for Karaf 4.2.8. If updating Karaf version in ONOS, make sure to
+# copy-paste here the content of apache-karaf-*/etc/startup.properties in, and
+# update the Kafka and log4j2 additions at the end if needed
+
+# Standard startup.properties file
+# Bundles to be started on startup, with startlevel
+mvn\:org.apache.karaf.features/org.apache.karaf.features.extension/4.2.8 = 1
+mvn\:org.apache.karaf.services/org.apache.karaf.services.eventadmin/4.2.8 = 5
+mvn\:org.ops4j.pax.url/pax-url-aether/2.6.2 = 5
+mvn\:org.apache.felix/org.apache.felix.metatype/1.2.2 = 5
+mvn\:org.ops4j.pax.logging/pax-logging-api/1.11.4 = 8
+mvn\:org.fusesource.jansi/jansi/1.18 = 8
+mvn\:org.ops4j.pax.logging/pax-logging-log4j2/1.11.4 = 8
+mvn\:org.apache.felix/org.apache.felix.coordinator/1.0.2 = 9
+mvn\:org.apache.felix/org.apache.felix.configadmin/1.9.16 = 10
+mvn\:org.apache.felix/org.apache.felix.fileinstall/3.6.4 = 11
+mvn\:org.apache.karaf.features/org.apache.karaf.features.core/4.2.8 = 15
+
+# Added part to enable Kafka log4j2 appender
+# N.B.: kafka-clients should have startlevel lower than onos-tools-package-log4j2-extra
+mvn\:org.apache.servicemix.bundles/org.apache.servicemix.bundles.kafka-clients/1.1.1_1 = 6
+# N.B.: onos-tools-package-log4j2-extra should have lower startlevel than pax-logging-*
+mvn\:org.onosproject/onos-log4j2-extra/$ONOS_VERSION = 7