# Add Heartbeat to every beat **URL:** \ **Category:** Beats\ **Created:** [February 21, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-heartbeat-to-every-beat/120865 "2018-02-21T14:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![widhalmt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/widhalmt/32/8237_2.png) [@widhalmt](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/widhalmt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-heartbeat-to-every-beat/120865/1 "2018-02-21T14:22:25Z")
Hi, It would be rather useful to have an option to send some sort of heartbeat with every beat. While it's good to have the `Heartbeat`-beat to show whether a host is up or not I'd really like to have a way to see if a specific beat is running (and working). I know I can use monitoring tools like Icinga 2 to check for running beats processes I don't have a way to check a specific beat if it still send's data. I dream of queries against Elasticsearch (maybe with Icinga 2) checking if each host with Filebeat, Winlogbeat, etc. has sent anything within the last 15 Minuten (configurable). If there was no "real" message to be sent, the beat sent a "ping" message so that there was at least something to be processed. Cheers, Thomas ---
**Author:** ![andrewkroh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/andrewkroh/32/3784_2.png) [@andrewkroh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/andrewkroh)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-heartbeat-to-every-beat/120865/2 "2018-02-21T15:21:53Z")
This is all possible with Beats 6.2. Every 60 seconds the Beat will send metrics ([period](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/configuration-monitor.html#_literal_period_literal) is configurable). > **[Beats 6.2.0 released | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/blog/beats-6-2-0-released)** > > We’re pleased to announce the Beats 6.2.0 release, coming with plenty of new features including central monitoring, a passwords keystore, Auditbeat GA, Kubernetes autodiscovery, and a Filebeat module ... [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/6.2/beats-page.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/6.2/beats-page.html) [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/monitoring.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/monitoring.html) ---
**Author:** ![widhalmt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/widhalmt/32/8237_2.png) [@widhalmt](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/widhalmt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-heartbeat-to-every-beat/120865/3 "2018-02-21T15:31:11Z")
Oh, thank you. I checked the `reference` configuration file but didn't find it. I'll have a second look. I assume, it will work without X-Pack, as well? I won't have the nice UI but I'll have the data, right? Cheers, Thomas ---
**Author:** ![andrewkroh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/andrewkroh/32/3784_2.png) [@andrewkroh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/andrewkroh)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-heartbeat-to-every-beat/120865/4 "2018-02-21T15:53:13Z")
In the latest release the reference config files should have the xpack monitoring section. [https://github.com/elastic/beats/blob/v6.2.2/filebeat/filebeat.reference.yml#L1340](https://github.com/elastic/beats/blob/v6.2.2/filebeat/filebeat.reference.yml#L1340) It sends the data to a /xpack endpoint in Elasticsearch so the plugin must be installed. The X-Pack Basic license is free so you just need to have the plugin installed to ES. Then the raw monitoring metrics should be available in a `.monitoring-` index. ---
**Author:** ![widhalmt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/widhalmt/32/8237_2.png) [@widhalmt](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/widhalmt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-heartbeat-to-every-beat/120865/5 "2018-02-21T19:56:43Z")
Thanks for this information. What if I don't have access to Elasticsearch from my beats? Some of the beats I want to monitor are in remote networks with NAT and the only way to transfer data to the central Elasticsearch is via Logstash / Redis. Is there a way already? Or is there one planned? Cheers, Thomas ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/add-heartbeat-to-every-beat/120865/6 "2018-03-14T14:22:43Z")
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