Elastic Heartbeat 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

deb/rpm /etc/heartbeat/heartbeat.yml
mac/win <EXTRACTED_ARCHIVE>/heartbeat.yml

The following example shows a basic configuration for each of the three different types of monitors, ICMP, TCP, and HTTP.

heartbeat.monitors:
- type: icmp
  schedule: '*/5 * * * * * *'
  hosts: ["myhost"]
- type: tcp
  schedule: '@every 5s'
  hosts: ["myhost:7"]  # default TCP Echo Protocol
  check.send: "Check"
  check.receive: "Check"
- type: http
  schedule: '@every 5s'
  urls: ["http://localhost:80/service/status"]
  check.response.status: 200
heartbeat.scheduler:
  limit: 10

There's also a full example configuration file called heartbeat.reference.yml that shows all the possible options.

We'll be shipping to Logstash so that we have the option to run filters before the data is indexed.
Comment out the elasticsearch output block.

## Comment out elasticsearch output
#output.elasticsearch:
#  hosts: ["localhost:9200"]

No input available! Your stack is missing the required input for this data source Talk to support to add the input

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

Ok, time to start ingesting data!

deb/rpm

sudo systemctl enable heartbeat
sudo systemctl start heartbeat

mac

./heartbeat

Windows

Start-Service heartbeat

Now you should view your logs:

Launch Dashboard

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.

Heartbeat is a lightweight shipping agent created by Elastic as part of their Beats group of log shippers. Compared to other tools in the Beats family, such as Metricbeat & Winlogbeat, Heartbeat is a relatively new addition to the Elastic Stack.

Heartbeat is the only member of the Beats family that Elastic recommends you to install on a separate network/machine to the one you are currently wishing to monitor.

Heartbeat was created to allow observability of the health of services running on the host (this includes uptime monitoring functionality as standard). These results can then be shipped to one or more destinations, including Logstash.

Heartbeat supports HTTP, ICMP and TCP protocols for monitoring service availability.

If you need to keep a close eye on uptime for the purposes of complying with your company’s service level agreement (SLA) then you’ll find that Heartbeat is integral for monitoring these instances based on the URLs & metrics you supply to the application, prior to indexing. This feedback can be triggered based on the custom schedule you select during configuration.

If you need any further assistance with migrating your Heartbeat data to Logstash we're here to help you get started. Feel free to reach out by contacting our support team by visiting our dedicated Help Centre or via live chat & we'll be happy to assist.