# Beats prospector- No paths defined

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-prospector-no-paths-defined/69471>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [December 19, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-prospector-no-paths-defined/69471 "2016-12-19T16:05:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![iyerabhi07](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/46a35a/32.png) [@iyerabhi07](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/iyerabhi07)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-prospector-no-paths-defined/69471/1 "2016-12-19T16:05:24Z")

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Hi,

## I installed filbeat on ubuntu 16.04 to send logs to my logstash server. I am looking to send auth.log to it. prospector text:

filebeat.prospectors:

- input\_type: log

paths:

- /var/log/auth.log

* * *

But starting the filebeat gives below error:  
Exiting: Error in initing prospector: No paths were defined for prospector accessing 'filebeat.prospectors.0' (source:'/etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml')

What do I do? Do I have to reload the config or something?

Thanks in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Troy\_Axthelm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/troy_axthelm/32/18347_2.png) [@Troy\_Axthelm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Troy_Axthelm)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-prospector-no-paths-defined/69471/2 "2016-12-19T16:51:00Z")

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Hi iyerabhi07,

Checkout this online YAML parser: [http://yaml-online-parser.appspot.com/](http://yaml-online-parser.appspot.com/)

Then run your config and the one below and see if you can identify the differences (note the spacing):

```
filebeat.prospectors:
- input_type: log
  paths:
    - /var/log/wifi.log

```

I hope this helps. If it does not you may have an issue in addition to the spacing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![iyerabhi07](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/46a35a/32.png) [@iyerabhi07](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/iyerabhi07)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-prospector-no-paths-defined/69471/3 "2016-12-19T17:09:38Z")

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@Troy_Axthelm: you rock!! Thanks a ton. Worked perfectly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-prospector-no-paths-defined/69471/4 "2017-01-16T17:09:46Z")

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