AccessDeniedException Failed to created node environment error

I am starting a fresh brand new install of elasticsearch. The init process is failing. If I manually start it with all the options, it works just fine. What I don't get is there is a mysterious back slash showing up.

While digging in the logs, I see this when I manually start the init process.

    [2015-05-21 10:42:23,887][INFO ][node                     ] [jawas-bdlogstash1] version[1.5.2], pid[11458], build[62ff986/2015-04-27T09:21:06Z]
[2015-05-21 10:42:23,888][INFO ][node                     ] [jawas-bdlogstash1] initializing ...
[2015-05-21 10:42:23,902][INFO ][plugins                  ] [jawas-bdlogstash1] loaded [marvel], sites [marvel]
[2015-05-21 10:42:23,957][ERROR][bootstrap                ] Exception
org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchIllegalStateException: Failed to created node environment
        at org.elasticsearch.node.internal.InternalNode.<init>(InternalNode.java:162)
        at org.elasticsearch.node.NodeBuilder.build(NodeBuilder.java:159)
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.setup(Bootstrap.java:70)
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:213)
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:32)
Caused by: java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException: /elasticsearch\
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToIOException(UnixException.java:84)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:102)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(UnixException.java:107)
        at sun.nio.fs.UnixFileSystemProvider.createDirectory(UnixFileSystemProvider.java:383)
        at java.nio.file.Files.createDirectory(Files.java:630)
        at java.nio.file.Files.createAndCheckIsDirectory(Files.java:734)
        at java.nio.file.Files.createDirectories(Files.java:720)
        at org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment.<init>(NodeEnvironment.java:105)
        at org.elasticsearch.node.internal.InternalNode.<init>(InternalNode.java:160)
        ... 4 more

Here is the file permissions of my directory:

root@bdlogstash:/# ls | grep elasticsearch
drwxr-xr-x  2 elasticsearch elasticsearch 4.0K May 21 10:37 elasticsearch
root@bdlogstash:/#

Here is my init file:

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/init.d/elasticsearch -- startup script for Elasticsearch
#
# Written by Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels@cistron.nl>.
# Modified for Debian GNU/Linux by Ian Murdock <imurdock@gnu.ai.mit.edu>.
# Modified for Tomcat by Stefan Gybas <sgybas@debian.org>.
# Modified for Tomcat6 by Thierry Carrez <thierry.carrez@ubuntu.com>.
# Additional improvements by Jason Brittain <jason.brittain@mulesoft.com>.
# Modified by Nicolas Huray for Elasticsearch <nicolas.huray@gmail.com>.
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          elasticsearch
# Required-Start:    $network $remote_fs $named
# Required-Stop:     $network $remote_fs $named
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Starts elasticsearch
# Description:       Starts elasticsearch using start-stop-daemon
### END INIT INFO

PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin
NAME=elasticsearch
DESC="Elasticsearch Server"
DEFAULT=/etc/default/$NAME

if [ `id -u` -ne 0 ]; then
        echo "You need root privileges to run this script"
        exit 1
fi


. /lib/lsb/init-functions

if [ -r /etc/default/rcS ]; then
        . /etc/default/rcS
fi


# The following variables can be overwritten in $DEFAULT

# Run Elasticsearch as this user ID and group ID
ES_USER=elasticsearch
ES_GROUP=elasticsearch

# The first existing directory is used for JAVA_HOME (if JAVA_HOME is not defined in $DEFAULT)
JDK_DIRS="/usr/lib/jvm/jdk-7-oracle-x64 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/ /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-armhf /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-i386/ /usr/lib/jvm/default-java"

# Look for the right JVM to use
for jdir in $JDK_DIRS; do
    if [ -r "$jdir/bin/java" -a -z "${JAVA_HOME}" ]; then
        JAVA_HOME="$jdir"
    fi
done
export JAVA_HOME

#Set memory allocation
ES_MIN_MEM=1g
ES_MAX_MEM=4g

# Directory where the Elasticsearch binary distribution resides
ES_HOME=/opt/$NAME

# Heap size defaults to 256m min, 1g max
# Set ES_HEAP_SIZE to 50% of available RAM, but no more than 31g
ES_HEAP_SIZE=6g

# Heap new generation
#ES_HEAP_NEWSIZE=

# max direct memory
#ES_DIRECT_SIZE=

# Additional Java OPTS
#ES_JAVA_OPTS=

# Maximum number of open files
MAX_OPEN_FILES=65535

# Maximum amount of locked memory
#MAX_LOCKED_MEMORY=

# Elasticsearch log directory
LOG_DIR=/var/log/$NAME

# Elasticsearch data directory
DATA_DIR=/$NAME/

# Elasticsearch work directory
WORK_DIR=/tmp/$NAME

# Elasticsearch configuration directory
CONF_DIR=/etc/$NAME

# Elasticsearch configuration file (elasticsearch.yml)
CONF_FILE=$CONF_DIR/elasticsearch.yml

# Maximum number of VMA (Virtual Memory Areas) a process can own
MAX_MAP_COUNT=262144

# End of variables that can be overwritten in $DEFAULT

# overwrite settings from default file
if [ -f "$DEFAULT" ]; then
        . "$DEFAULT"
fi

# Define other required variables
PID_FILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
DAEMON=$ES_HOME/bin/elasticsearch
DAEMON_OPTS="-d -p $PID_FILE --default.config=$CONF_FILE --default.path.home=$ES_HOME --default.path.logs=$LOG_DIR --default.path.data=$DATA_DIR --default.path.work=$WORK_DIR --default.path.conf=$CONF_DIR"

export ES_HEAP_SIZE
export ES_HEAP_NEWSIZE
export ES_DIRECT_SIZE
export ES_JAVA_OPTS

# Check DAEMON exists
test -x $DAEMON || exit 0

checkJava() {
        if [ -x "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" ]; then
                JAVA="$JAVA_HOME/bin/java"
        else
                JAVA=`which java`
        fi

        if [ ! -x "$JAVA" ]; then
                echo "Could not find any executable java binary. Please install java in your PATH or set JAVA_HOME"
                exit 1
        fi
}

case "$1" in
  start)
        checkJava

        if [ -n "$MAX_LOCKED_MEMORY" -a -z "$ES_HEAP_SIZE" ]; then
                log_failure_msg "MAX_LOCKED_MEMORY is set - ES_HEAP_SIZE must also be set"
                exit 1
        fi

        log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC"

        pid=`pidofproc -p $PID_FILE elasticsearch`
        if [ -n "$pid" ] ; then
                log_begin_msg "Already running."
                log_end_msg 0
                exit 0
        fi

        # Prepare environment
        mkdir -p "$LOG_DIR" "$DATA_DIR" "$WORK_DIR" && chown "$ES_USER":"$ES_GROUP" "$LOG_DIR" "$DATA_DIR" "$WORK_DIR"
        touch "$PID_FILE" && chown "$ES_USER":"$ES_GROUP" "$PID_FILE"

        if [ -n "$MAX_OPEN_FILES" ]; then
                ulimit -n $MAX_OPEN_FILES
        fi

        if [ -n "$MAX_LOCKED_MEMORY" ]; then
                ulimit -l $MAX_LOCKED_MEMORY
        fi

        if [ -n "$MAX_MAP_COUNT" ]; then
                sysctl -q -w vm.max_map_count=$MAX_MAP_COUNT
        fi

        # Start Daemon
        start-stop-daemon --start -b --user "$ES_USER" -c "$ES_USER" --pidfile "$PID_FILE" --exec $DAEMON -- $DAEMON_OPTS
        log_end_msg $?
        ;;
  stop)
        log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC"

        if [ -f "$PID_FILE" ]; then
                start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile "$PID_FILE" --user "$ES_USER" --retry=TERM/20/KILL/5 >/dev/null
                if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
                        log_progress_msg "$DESC is not running but pid file exists, cleaning up"
                elif [ $? -eq 3 ]; then
                        PID="`cat $PID_FILE`"
                        log_failure_msg "Failed to stop $DESC (pid $PID)"
                        exit 1
                fi
                rm -f "$PID_FILE"
        else
                log_progress_msg "(not running)"
        fi
        log_end_msg 0
        ;;
  status)
        status_of_proc -p $PID_FILE elasticsearch elasticsearch && exit 0 || exit $?
    ;;
  restart|force-reload)
        if [ -f "$PID_FILE" ]; then
                $0 stop
                sleep 1
        fi
        $0 start
        ;;
  *)
        log_success_msg "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|force-reload|status}"
        exit 1
        ;;
esac

exit 0

I coworker helped me figure it out.

path.data: /elasticsearch

had a back slash on it. Works now.