Filebeat System Configuration

To get started first follow the steps below:

• Install
• Root access
• Verify the required port is open

Older versions can be found here 7, 6, 5

Filebeat also has modules that can be displayed, enabled using

deb/rpm

sudo filebeat modules list
sudo filebeat modules enable system

macOS/linux

sudo chown root filebeat.yml
sudo chown root modules.d/*.yml
sudo ./filebeat modules list
sudo ./filebeat modules enable system
sudo chown root module/system/syslog/*.yml
sudo chown root module/system/auth/*.yml

Windows

PS > .\filebeat.exe modules list
PS > .\filebeat.exe modules enable system

Additional module configuration can be done using the per module config files located in the modules.d folder, most commonly this would be to read logs from a non-default location

deb/rpm /etc/filebeat/modules.d/system.yml
mac/win <EXTRACTED_ARCHIVE>/modules.d/system.yml

- module: system
  # Syslog
  syslog:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    #var.paths: ["/var/log/*log"]

  # Authorization logs
  auth:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    #var.paths: ["/var/log/*log"]

The configuration file below is pre-configured to send data to your Logit.io Stack via Logstash.

Copy the configuration file below and overwrite the contents of filebeat.yml.

# ============================== Filebeat modules ==============================
filebeat.config.modules:
  path: ${path.config}/modules.d/*.yml
  reload.enabled: false
  #reload.period: 10s

# ================================== Outputs ===================================
# ------------------------------ Logstash Output -------------------------------
output.logstash:
    hosts: ["your-logstash-host:your-ssl-port"]
    loadbalance: true
    ssl.enabled: true

# ================================= Processors =================================
processors:
  - add_host_metadata:
      when.not.contains.tags: forwarded
  - add_cloud_metadata: ~
  - add_docker_metadata: ~
  - add_kubernetes_metadata: ~

If you’re running Filebeat 7 add this code block to the end. Otherwise, you can leave it out.

# ... For Filebeat 7 only ...
filebeat.registry.path: /var/lib/filebeat

If you’re running Filebeat 6 add this code block to the end. Otherwise, you can leave it out.

# ... For Filebeat 6 only ...
registry_file: /var/lib/filebeat/registry

Validate your YAML

It’s a good idea to run the configuration file through a YAML validator to rule out indentation errors, clean up extra characters, and check if your YAML file is valid. Yamllint.com is a great choice.

If you have issues starting in the next step, you can use these commands below to troubleshoot.

Let's check the configuration file is syntactically correct by running directly inside the terminal. If the file is invalid, will print an error loading config file error message with details on how to correct the problem.

deb/rpm

sudo  -e -c /etc//.yml

macOS

cd <EXTRACTED_ARCHIVE>
sudo ./ -e -c .yml

Windows

cd <EXTRACTED_ARCHIVE>
.\.exe -e -c .yml

Start or restart to apply the configuration changes.

Now you should view your data:

View my data

If you don't see logs take a look at How to diagnose no data in Stack below for how to diagnose common issues.

If you don't see data appearing in your Stack after following the steps, visit the Help Centre guide for steps to diagnose no data appearing in your Stack or Chat to support now.

Filebeat is a lightweight data shipper that is used to collect, transform, and ship log data to various destinations, such as Elasticsearch, Logstash, or Kafka. The System Module in Filebeat is a pre-built module that is designed to collect and ship system logs from different sources on your system, such as syslog, auth logs, and kernel logs.

The System Module in Filebeat provides several benefits:

Centralized Log Collection: The System Module in Filebeat allows you to collect system logs from different sources on your system and send them to a central destination, such as Elasticsearch or Logstash. This makes it easier to manage and analyze logs from multiple sources in one place.

Simplified Log Parsing: The System Module in Filebeat includes pre-built parsers for different types of system logs, such as syslog, auth logs, and kernel logs. This makes it easier to extract relevant information from your logs without having to write custom parsing rules.

Real-time Log Shipping: The System Module in Filebeat is designed to ship logs in near real-time, which means that you can quickly identify and respond to issues as they occur.

Scalability: Filebeat is lightweight and scalable, which means that it can be deployed on multiple systems to collect and ship logs from different sources. This makes it ideal for large-scale deployments where you need to collect and analyze logs from many systems.

In addition to the above benefits, the System Module in Filebeat also supports different output destinations, such as Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kafka, and others. This allows you to choose the best destination for your logs based on your specific requirements.

Overall, the System Module in Filebeat provides a convenient and efficient way to collect and ship system logs from your infrastructure, making it easier to monitor and troubleshoot issues in real-time.

A misconfigured Filebeat setup can lead to many complex logging concerns that this filebeat.yml wizard aims to solve. Just a couple of examples of these include excessively large registry files & file handlers that error frequently when encountering deleted or renamed log files. Tracking numerous pipelines using this shipper can become tedious for self hosted Elastic Stacks so you may wish to consider our Hosted Opensearch service as a solution to this.

If you need any further assistance with migrating your log data to ELK we're here to help you get started. Feel free to get in contact with our support team by sending us a message via live chat & we'll be happy to assist.