Logstash Logging Configuration
Ship logs to your hosted Logstash instance at Logit
Filebeat is an open source shipping agent that lets you ship logs from local files to one or more destinations, including Logstash.
Follow this step by step guide to get 'logs' from your system to Logit.io:
Step 1 - Install Filebeat
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
- DEB
- RPM
To get started you will need to install filebeat. To do this you have two main options:
- Choose the filebeat ZIP file (Windows ZIP x86_64) or
- Choose the Microsoft Software Installer MSI file (Windows MSI x86_64 (beta))
If you have chosen to download the zip file:
- Extract the contents of the zip file into C:\Program Files.
- Rename the extracted folder to filebeat
- Open a PowerShell prompt as an Administrator (right-click the PowerShell icon and select Run As Administrator).
- From the PowerShell prompt, run the following commands to install filebeat as a Windows service:
cd 'C:\Program Files\filebeat'
.\install-service-filebeat.ps1
If script execution is disabled on your system, you need to set the execution policy for the current session to allow the script to run. For example:
PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy UnRestricted -File .\install-service-filebeat.ps1
For more information about Powershell execution policies see here
If you have chosen to download the filebeat.msi file:
- double-click on it and the relevant files will be downloaded.
At the end of the installation process you'll be given the option to open the folder where filebeat has been installed.
- Open a PowerShell prompt as an Administrator (right-click the PowerShell icon and select Run As Administrator).
- From the PowerShell prompt, change directory to the location where filebeat was installed and run the following command to install filebeat as a Windows service:
.\install-service-filebeat.ps1
If script execution is disabled on your system, you need to set the execution policy for the current session to allow the script to run. For example:
PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy UnRestricted -File .\install-service-filebeat.ps1
For more information about Powershell execution policies see here
To get started you will need to install filebeat. To do this you have two main options:
- Choose the AMD / Intel file (x86_64) or
- Choose the ARM file (arm64)
You can tell if you have a Linux PC with an AMD / Intel CPU (kernel) architecture by opening a terminal and running the uname -m command. If it displays x86_64 you have AMD / Intel architecture.
If you have an x86_64 system download and extract the contents of the file using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzvf filebeat-8.12.2-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
If you have an arm64 system download and extract the contents of the file using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-linux-arm64.tar.gz
tar xzvf filebeat-8.12.2-linux-arm64.tar.gz
To get started you will need to install filebeat. To do this you have two main options:
- Choose the AMD / Intel file (x86_64) or
- Choose the ARM file (aarch64)
You can tell if you have a Mac with an ARM CPU architecture by opening the Terminal application and running the arch command. If it displays arm64 you have ARM architecture.
If you have an x86_64 system download and extract the contents of the file using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzvf filebeat-8.12.2-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz
If you have an aarch64 system download and extract the contents of the file using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-darwin-aarch64.tar.gz
tar xzvf filebeat-8.12.2-darwin-aarch64.tar.gz
To get started you will need to install filebeat. To do this you have two main options:
- Choose the AMD / Intel file (x86_64) or
- Choose the ARM file (aarch64)
You can tell if you have a PC with an ARM CPU architecture by opening the Terminal application and running the arch command. If it displays arm64 you have ARM architecture.
If you have an x86_64 system download and install filebeat using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i filebeat-8.12.2-amd64.deb
If you have an aarch64 system download and install filebeat using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-arm64.deb
sudo dpkg -i filebeat-8.12.2-arm64.deb
To get started you will need to install filebeat. To do this you have two main options:
- Choose the AMD / Intel file (x86_64) or
- Choose the ARM file (aarch64)
You can tell if you have a PC with an ARM CPU architecture by opening the Terminal application and running the arch command. If it displays arm64 you have ARM architecture.
If you have an x86_64 system download and install filebeat using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm -vi filebeat-8.12.2-x86_64.rpm
If you have an aarch64 system download and install filebeat using the following commands:
curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/filebeat/filebeat-8.12.2-aarch64.rpm
sudo rpm -vi filebeat-8.12.2-aarch64.rpm
Step 2 - Enable the Logstash module
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
- DEB
- RPM
There are several built in filebeat modules you can use. You will need to enable the logstash module:
.\filebeat.exe modules list
.\filebeat.exe modules enable logstash
In the module config under modules.d, change the module settings to match your environment. You must enable at least one fileset in the module.
Filesets are disabled by default.
Copy the snippet below and replace the contents of the logstash.yml module file:
# Module: logstash
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/8.12/filebeat-module-logstash.html
- module: logstash
# logs
log:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
# Slow logs
slowlog:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
There are several built in filebeat modules you can use. You will need to enable the logstash module:
sudo filebeat modules list
sudo filebeat modules enable logstash
In the module config under modules.d, change the module settings to match your environment. You must enable at least one fileset in the module.
Filesets are disabled by default.
Copy the snippet below and replace the contents of the logstash.yml module file:
# Module: logstash
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/8.12/filebeat-module-logstash.html
- module: logstash
# logs
log:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
# Slow logs
slowlog:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
There are several built in filebeat modules you can use. You will need to enable the logstash module:
./filebeat modules list
./filebeat modules enable logstash
In the module config under modules.d, change the module settings to match your environment. You must enable at least one fileset in the module.
Filesets are disabled by default.
Copy the snippet below and replace the contents of the logstash.yml module file:
# Module: logstash
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/8.12/filebeat-module-logstash.html
- module: logstash
# logs
log:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
# Slow logs
slowlog:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
There are several built in filebeat modules you can use. You will need to enable the logstash module:
sudo filebeat modules list
sudo filebeat modules enable logstash
In the module config under modules.d, change the module settings to match your environment. You must enable at least one fileset in the module.
Filesets are disabled by default.
Copy the snippet below and replace the contents of the logstash.yml module file:
# Module: logstash
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/8.12/filebeat-module-logstash.html
- module: logstash
# logs
log:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
# Slow logs
slowlog:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
There are several built in filebeat modules you can use. You will need to enable the logstash module:
sudo filebeat modules list
sudo filebeat modules enable logstash
In the module config under modules.d, change the module settings to match your environment. You must enable at least one fileset in the module.
Filesets are disabled by default.
Copy the snippet below and replace the contents of the logstash.yml module file:
# Module: logstash
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/8.12/filebeat-module-logstash.html
- module: logstash
# logs
log:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
# Slow logs
slowlog:
enabled: true
# Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
# Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
#var.paths:
Step 3 - Update your configuration file
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.
Step 4 - Validate configuration
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
- DEB
- RPM
.\filebeat.exe -e -c filebeat.yml
sudo ./filebeat -e -c filebeat.yml --strict.perms=false
You’ll be running filebeat as root, so you need to change ownership of the configuration file and any configurations enabled in the modules.d directory, or run filebeat with --strict.perms=false as shown above. Read more about how to change ownership.
sudo ./filebeat -e -c filebeat.yml --strict.perms=false
You’ll be running filebeat as root, so you need to change ownership of the configuration file and any configurations enabled in the modules.d directory, or run filebeat with --strict.perms=false as shown above. Read more about how to change ownership.
sudo filebeat -e -c /etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml
sudo filebeat -e -c /etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml
Step 5 - Start filebeat
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
- DEB
- RPM
To start Filebeat, run in Powershell:
Start-Service filebeat
To start Filebeat, run:
sudo chown root filebeat.yml
sudo chown root modules.d/logstash.yml
sudo ./filebeat -e
You’ll be running filebeat as root, so you need to change ownership of the configuration file and any configurations enabled in the modules.d directory, or run filebeat with --strict.perms=false as shown above. Read more about how to change ownership.
To start Filebeat, run:
sudo chown root filebeat.yml
sudo chown root modules.d/logstash.yml
sudo ./filebeat -e
You’ll be running filebeat as root, so you need to change ownership of the configuration file and any configurations enabled in the modules.d directory, or run filebeat with --strict.perms=false as shown above. Read more about how to change ownership.
To start Filebeat, run:
sudo service filebeat start
To start Filebeat, run:
sudo service filebeat start
Step 6 - Check Logit.io for your logs
Data should now have been sent to your Stack.
If you don't see logs take a look at How to diagnose no data in Stack below for how to diagnose common issues.
Step 7 - how to diagnose no data in Stack
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.
Step 8 - Logstash Overview
What Is Logstash?
Logstash is an open-source light-weight processing pipeline created by Elastic. It is the most popular data pipeline used for Elasticsearch as their close integration allows for powerful log processing capabilities.
What is Logstash Used For?
Logstash makes up an essential part of the ELK Stack as it provides the easiest solution for collecting, parsing, and storing logs for analysis & monitoring.
Logstash’s wide range of over 200 open-source plugins help you easily index your data across multiple log types including error, event & web server files from hundreds of popular integrations. The tool offers an array of input, output, & filter plugins for enriching, and transforming data from a variety of sources including Golang, Google Cloud, & Azure.
What Are The Advantages Of Using Logstash?
Some of the advantages of using this pipeline include high availability & flexibility, due to the wide adoption of ELK & the large community supporting their regularly maintained plugins. Some of the most popular plugins include Logtrailing (for tailing live events), Beats (including Metricbeat & Heartbeat), & TCP.
Logstash also benefits from having a straightforward configuration format that reduces the complexity of getting started with ELK. Data ingestion using Logstash is enriched prior to being indexed by Elasticsearch, making it readily available for filtering, analysis & reporting in Kibana once data is migrated to your ELK Stack