diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackPlugin.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackPlugin.java
index b4ff04c65154f..a7fe16671e4f1 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackPlugin.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/XPackPlugin.java
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.core;
 
-import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.SetOnce;
 import org.elasticsearch.SpecialPermission;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
@@ -155,7 +155,12 @@ protected Clock getClock() {
     protected SSLService getSslService() { return getSharedSslService(); }
     protected LicenseService getLicenseService() { return getSharedLicenseService(); }
     protected XPackLicenseState getLicenseState() { return getSharedLicenseState(); }
-    protected void setSslService(SSLService sslService) { XPackPlugin.sslService.set(sslService); }
+
+    protected void setSslService(SSLService sslService) {
+        logger.trace("Setting SSLService to [{}] for plugin [{}]", sslService, this);
+        XPackPlugin.sslService.set(sslService);
+    }
+
     protected void setLicenseService(LicenseService licenseService) { XPackPlugin.licenseService.set(licenseService); }
     protected void setLicenseState(XPackLicenseState licenseState) { XPackPlugin.licenseState.set(licenseState); }
     public static SSLService getSharedSslService() { return sslService.get(); }
diff --git a/x-pack/qa/tribe-tests-with-license/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/LicenseTribeTests.java b/x-pack/qa/tribe-tests-with-license/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/LicenseTribeTests.java
index ac3f127dfa757..6f7f40aa791b8 100644
--- a/x-pack/qa/tribe-tests-with-license/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/LicenseTribeTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/qa/tribe-tests-with-license/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/LicenseTribeTests.java
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.protocol.xpack.license.DeleteLicenseRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.protocol.xpack.license.GetLicenseRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.junit.annotations.TestLogging;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.license.TestUtils.generateSignedLicense;
 
+@TestLogging("org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.XPackPlugin:TRACE,org.elasticsearch.xpack.CompositeTestingXPackPlugin:TRACE")
 public class LicenseTribeTests extends TribeTransportTestCase {
 
     @Override