diff --git a/.ci/build.sh b/.ci/build.sh
index 056942159..95efd69db 100644
--- a/.ci/build.sh
+++ b/.ci/build.sh
@@ -23,11 +23,23 @@ set -e
 set -o pipefail
 
 function build {
+  if [[ ! -d ${RALLY_HOME} ]] ; then
+    echo "Rally home [${RALLY_HOME}] is not set or does not exist."
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
   export PATH="$HOME/.pyenv/bin:$PATH"
   export TERM=dumb
   export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
   eval "$(pyenv init -)"
   eval "$(pyenv virtualenv-init -)"
+
+  export THESPLOG_FILE="${THESPLOG_FILE:-${RALLY_HOME}/.rally/logs/actor-system-internal.log}"
+  # this value is in bytes, the default is 50kB. We increase it to 200kiB.
+  export THESPLOG_FILE_MAXSIZE=${THESPLOG_FILE_MAXSIZE:-204800}
+  # adjust the default log level from WARNING
+  export THESPLOG_THRESHOLD="INFO"
+
   make prereq
   make install
   make precommit