diff --git a/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/server/Main.java b/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/server/Main.java
index decc32c24a0..ad242c11160 100644
--- a/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/server/Main.java
+++ b/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/server/Main.java
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ public class Main {
         BK_OPTS.addOption("m", "zkledgerpath", true, "Zookeeper ledgers root path");
         BK_OPTS.addOption("p", "bookieport", true, "bookie port exported");
         BK_OPTS.addOption("hp", "httpport", true, "bookie http port exported");
-        BK_OPTS.addOption("j", "journal", true, "bookie journal directory");
+        Option journalDirs = new Option ("j", "journaldirs", true, "bookie journal directories");
+        journalDirs.setArgs(10);
+        BK_OPTS.addOption(journalDirs);
         Option indexDirs = new Option ("i", "indexdirs", true, "bookie index directories");
         indexDirs.setArgs(10);
         BK_OPTS.addOption(indexDirs);
@@ -81,8 +83,10 @@ private static void printUsage() {
             + "The settings in configuration file will be overwrite by provided arguments.\n"
             + "Options including:\n";
         String footer = "Here is an example:\n"
-            + "\tBookieServer -c bookie.conf -z localhost:2181 -m /bookkeeper/ledgers "
-            + "-p 3181 -j /mnt/journal -i \"/mnt/index1 /mnt/index2\""
+            + "\tBookieServer -c bookie.conf -z localhost:2181 -m /bookkeeper/ledgers"
+            + " -p 3181"
+            + " -j \"/mnt/journal1 /mnt/journal2\""
+            + " -i \"/mnt/index1 /mnt/index2\""
             + " -l \"/mnt/ledger1 /mnt/ledger2 /mnt/ledger3\"\n";
         hf.printHelp("BookieServer [options]\n", header, BK_OPTS, footer, true);
     }
@@ -165,9 +169,12 @@ private static ServerConfiguration parseArgs(String[] args)
             }
 
             if (cmdLine.hasOption('j')) {
-                String sJournalDir = cmdLine.getOptionValue('j');
-                log.info("Get cmdline journal dir: {}", sJournalDir);
-                conf.setJournalDirName(sJournalDir);
+                String[] sJournalDirs = cmdLine.getOptionValues('j');
+                log.info("Get cmdline journal dirs: ");
+                for (String journal : sJournalDirs) {
+                    log.info("journalDir : {}", journal);
+                }
+                conf.setJournalDirsName(sJournalDirs);
             }
 
             if (cmdLine.hasOption('i')) {
diff --git a/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.statefulset.yml b/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.statefulset.yml
index 49548f09d05..d8e52ee0b38 100644
--- a/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.statefulset.yml
+++ b/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.statefulset.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ metadata:
 data:
     BK_BOOKIE_EXTRA_OPTS: "\"-Xms1g -Xmx1g -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=1g -XX:+UseG1GC  -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=10 -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+DoEscapeAnalysis -XX:ParallelGCThreads=32 -XX:ConcGCThreads=32 -XX:G1NewSizePercent=50 -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:-ResizePLAB\""
     BK_bookiePort: "3181"
-    BK_journalDirectory: "/bookkeeper/data/journal"
+    BK_journalDirectories: "/bookkeeper/data/journal"
     BK_ledgerDirectories: "/bookkeeper/data/ledgers"
     BK_indexDirectories: "/bookkeeper/data/ledgers"
     BK_zkServers: zookeeper
diff --git a/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.yaml b/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.yaml
index 78b28c892a1..3c1d02e4554 100644
--- a/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.yaml
+++ b/deploy/kubernetes/gke/bookkeeper.yaml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ metadata:
 data:
     BK_BOOKIE_EXTRA_OPTS: "\"-Xms1g -Xmx1g -XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=1g -XX:+UseG1GC  -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=10 -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+DoEscapeAnalysis -XX:ParallelGCThreads=32 -XX:ConcGCThreads=32 -XX:G1NewSizePercent=50 -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:-ResizePLAB\""
     BK_bookiePort: "3181"
-    BK_journalDirectory: "/bookkeeper/data/journal"
+    BK_journalDirectories: "/bookkeeper/data/journal"
     BK_ledgerDirectories: "/bookkeeper/data/ledgers"
     BK_indexDirectories: "/bookkeeper/data/ledgers"
     BK_zkServers: zookeeper
diff --git a/docker/README.md b/docker/README.md
index 462f1ae2a16..04b37ac6391 100644
--- a/docker/README.md
+++ b/docker/README.md
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ Default value is empty - " ". so ledgers dir in zookeeper will be at "/ledgers"
 #### `BK_DATA_DIR`
 This variable allows you to specify where to store data in docker instance.
 
-This could be override by env vars "BK_journalDirectory", "BK_ledgerDirectories", "BK_indexDirectories"  and also `journalDirectory`, `ledgerDirectories`, `indexDirectories` in [bk_server.conf](https://github.com/apache/bookkeeper/blob/master/bookkeeper-server/conf/bk_server.conf).
+This could be override by env vars "BK_journalDirectories", "BK_ledgerDirectories", "BK_indexDirectories"  and also `journalDirectories`, `ledgerDirectories`, `indexDirectories` in [bk_server.conf](https://github.com/apache/bookkeeper/blob/master/conf/bk_server.conf).
 
 Default value is "/data/bookkeeper", which contains volumes `/data/bookkeeper/journal`, `/data/bookkeeper/ledgers` and `/data/bookkeeper/index` to hold Bookkeeper data in docker.
 
diff --git a/docker/scripts/common.sh b/docker/scripts/common.sh
index 0f745db4b45..0b188eefc0b 100755
--- a/docker/scripts/common.sh
+++ b/docker/scripts/common.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export BK_metadataServiceUri=${BK_metadataServiceUri:-"zk://${BK_zkServers}${BK_
 export BK_bookiePort=${BK_bookiePort:-${PORT0}}
 export BK_httpServerEnabled=${BK_httpServerEnabled:-"true"}
 export BK_httpServerPort=${BK_httpServerPort:-${BOOKIE_HTTP_PORT}}
-export BK_journalDirectory=${BK_journalDirectory:-${BK_DATA_DIR}/journal}
+export BK_journalDirectories=${BK_journalDirectories:-${BK_journalDirectory:-${BK_DATA_DIR}/journal}}
 export BK_ledgerDirectories=${BK_ledgerDirectories:-${BK_DATA_DIR}/ledgers}
 export BK_indexDirectories=${BK_indexDirectories:-${BK_ledgerDirectories}}
 # dlog
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ echo ""
 echo "  [bookie]"
 echo "  BK_bookiePort bookie service port is $BK_bookiePort"
 echo "  BK_DATA_DIR is $BK_DATA_DIR"
-echo "  BK_journalDirectory is ${BK_journalDirectory}"
+echo "  BK_journalDirectories is ${BK_journalDirectories}"
 echo "  BK_ledgerDirectories are ${BK_ledgerDirectories}"
 echo "  BK_indexDirectories are ${BK_indexDirectories}"
 echo ""
@@ -77,15 +77,15 @@ export BOOKIE_CONF=${BK_HOME}/conf/bk_server.conf
 export SERVICE_PORT=${PORT0}
 
 function create_bookie_dirs() {
-    mkdir -p "${BK_journalDirectory}" "${BK_ledgerDirectories}" "${BK_indexDirectories}"
+    mkdir -p "${BK_journalDirectories}" "${BK_ledgerDirectories}" "${BK_indexDirectories}"
     echo "Created bookie dirs : "
-    echo "  journal = ${BK_journalDirectory}"
+    echo "  journal = ${BK_journalDirectories}"
     echo "  ledger = ${BK_ledgerDirectories}"
     echo "  index = ${BK_indexDirectories}"
     # -------------- #
     # Allow the container to be started with `--user`
     if [ "$(id -u)" = '0' ]; then
-        chown -R "${BK_USER}:${BK_USER}" "${BK_journalDirectory}" "${BK_ledgerDirectories}" "${BK_indexDirectories}"
+        chown -R "${BK_USER}:${BK_USER}" "${BK_journalDirectories}" "${BK_ledgerDirectories}" "${BK_indexDirectories}"
     fi
     # -------------- #
 }
diff --git a/tests/docker-images/all-versions-image/scripts/update-conf-and-boot.sh b/tests/docker-images/all-versions-image/scripts/update-conf-and-boot.sh
index 4248862648b..32e4ed37ba1 100644
--- a/tests/docker-images/all-versions-image/scripts/update-conf-and-boot.sh
+++ b/tests/docker-images/all-versions-image/scripts/update-conf-and-boot.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 mkdir -p $BK_JOURNALDIR $BK_LEDGERDIR
 
-sed -i "s|journalDirectory=.*|journalDirectory=$BK_JOURNALDIR|" /opt/bookkeeper/*/conf/bk_server.conf
+sed -i "s|journalDirectories=.*|journalDirectories=$BK_JOURNALDIR|" /opt/bookkeeper/*/conf/bk_server.conf
 sed -i "s|ledgerDirectories=.*|ledgerDirectories=$BK_LEDGERDIR|" /opt/bookkeeper/*/conf/bk_server.conf
 sed -i "s|zkServers=.*|zkServers=$BK_ZKCONNECTSTRING|" /opt/bookkeeper/*/conf/bk_server.conf