diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 84ae65b56c40311871178ada6d0189d9baff1ae6..1fc48d8974cca69bca6f958c16f64505995856c3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Upcoming version:
 -----------------
+  - updated geoserver and geoserver-shell (Nikolaus Krismer)
   - gradle version upgrade (Nikolaus Krismer)
   - moving targetSrid to config file (Nikolaus Krismer)
   - added comment about how to disable postgreSQL cache (Nikolaus Krismer)
diff --git a/bootstrap/prepareEnvironment.sh b/bootstrap/prepareEnvironment.sh
index d91425043e51e3ffcfa229cd6ba2b5b63e66153e..1039bdf38f3a687ca7f2369f14ceceb46196d4db 100755
--- a/bootstrap/prepareEnvironment.sh
+++ b/bootstrap/prepareEnvironment.sh
@@ -76,11 +76,13 @@ ARMADILLO_URL="$CACHE_DIR_REMOTE_ISO/$ARMADILLO_FILE"
 GDAL_VERSION="2.0.0"
 GDAL_FILE="gdal-$GDAL_VERSION.tar.gz"
 GDAL_DOWNLOAD_URL="http://download.osgeo.org/gdal/$GDAL_VERSION/$GDAL_FILE"
-GEOSERVER_VERSION="2.7.2"
+GEOSERVER_VERSION="2.8.1"
 GEOSERVER_FILE="geoserver-$GEOSERVER_VERSION-war.zip"
 GEOSERVER_DOWNLOAD_URL="http://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/$GEOSERVER_VERSION/$GEOSERVER_FILE"
-GEOSERVER_SHELL_VERSION="0.2-SNAPSHOT"
-GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE="gs-shell-$GEOSERVER_SHELL_VERSION-app.zip"
+GEOSERVER_SHELL_VERSION="0.2.1"
+GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE="geoserver-shell-$GEOSERVER_SHELL_VERSION-app.zip"
+#GEOSERVER_SHELL_URL=$CACHE_DIR_REMOTE_ISO/$GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE
+GEOSERVER_SHELL_URL="https://github.com/jericks/geoserver-shell/releases/download/0.2/$GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE"
 JAVA_VERSION="8u60"
 JAVA_FILE_32="jdk-$JAVA_VERSION-linux-i586.rpm"
 JAVA_FILE_64="jdk-$JAVA_VERSION-linux-x64.rpm"
@@ -507,9 +509,9 @@ if $INSTALL_GEOSERVER; then
 	mkdir -p $DEPLOY_DIR/geoserver/data >> $WORKING_DIR/install_geoserver.log 2>&1
 
 	echo "Installing geoserver-shell $GEOSERVER_SHELL_VERSION"
-	fn_download_newer $DOWNLOAD_DIR/$GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE $CACHE_DIR_REMOTE_ISO/$GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE
+	fn_download_newer $DOWNLOAD_DIR/$GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE $GEOSERVER_SHELL_URL
 	unzip -o -d $DEPLOY_DIR $DOWNLOAD_DIR/$GEOSERVER_SHELL_FILE >> $WORKING_DIR/install_geoserver_shell.log 2>&1
-	ln -sf $DEPLOY_DIR/gs-shell-0.2-SNAPSHOT $DEPLOY_DIR/gs-shell
+	ln -sf $DEPLOY_DIR/gs-shell-$GEOSERVER_SHELL_VERSION $DEPLOY_DIR/gs-shell
 	make >> $WORKING_DIR/install_geoserver_shell.log 2>&1
 	make install >> $WORKING_DIR/install_geoserver_shell.log 2>&1
 fi
@@ -618,13 +620,15 @@ if $INSTALL_NEO4J_SPATIAL; then
 	cd $DEPLOY_DIR/neo4j-spatial
 	git checkout -q $NEO4J_SPATIAL_VERSION >> /dev/null 2>&1
 
-	echo "  - copying neo4j-spatial into geoserver (from source)"
+	echo "  - compilinh neo4j-spatial (from source)"
 	mvn clean install -DskipTests >> $WORKING_DIR/install_neo4j_spatial.log 2>&1
 
 	if $INSTALL_NEO4J; then
+		echo "  - copying neo4j-spatial into neo4j"
 		unzip -o -d $DEPLOY_DIR/neo4j/plugins $DEPLOY_DIR/neo4j-spatial/target/*server-plugin.zip >> $WORKING_DIR/install_neo4j_spatial.log 2>&1
 	fi
 	if $INSTALL_GEOSERVER; then
+		echo "  - copying neo4j-spatial into geoserver"
 		unzip -o -d $TOMCAT_WEBAPP_DIR/geoserver/WEB-INF/lib $DEPLOY_DIR/neo4j-spatial/target/*server-plugin.zip >> $WORKING_DIR/install_neo4j_spatial.log 2>&1
 	fi