# Cannot start elasticsearch on Centos8 **URL:** \ **Category:** Elastic Stack\ **Created:** [June 5, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961 "2020-06-05T13:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/1 "2020-06-05T13:50:09Z")
Hi fellows, I installed elasticsearch 7 on my centos 8 machine via yum following this howto: [https://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-elastic-stack-on-centos-8/](https://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-elastic-stack-on-centos-8/) Anything worked fine so far, but wehen I try to start elasticsearch I get the following error: _ **`Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.`** _ In elasticsearch.log I get this Error: uncaught exception in thread [main] _`org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.StartupException: ElasticsearchException[Failure running machine learning native code.`_ So I tried this: _`echo "xpack.ml.enabled: false" >> /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml`_ without any success. My machine has 3GB RAM so I set ``` *-Xms1g* *-Xmx2g* ``` My elasticsearch.yml you can see here: [https://pastebin.com/m4P5f5qy](https://pastebin.com/m4P5f5qy) How can I fix that problem. Any help is aapreciated. Many thanks in advance Uli ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/2 "2020-06-05T13:52:24Z")
Welcome! No more than half of the available RAM should be allocated to the HEAP. See [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/heap-size.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/heap-size.html) With 3gb of RAM, I'd keep the default configuration. ---
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/3 "2020-06-05T19:17:09Z")
Hi dadoonet, thanks for your advice , but that isn't the reason for that error I chanded it to 1g and 512m both doesn't solved it. Regards, Uli ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 10:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/4 "2020-06-06T10:11:09Z")
You should use the same value for both. ---
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/5 "2020-06-06T15:23:02Z")
Hi dadoonet, Thanks for you advice I tried 2g 1g 512m und 4g as values , nothing worked. _`Invalid initial heap size: -Xms1g`_ Which size would you recommend? f _ree -m_ \* total used free shared buff/cache available\* _Mem: 3400 262 2727 9 409 2917_ _Swap: 1527 0 1527_ Best Regards, Uli ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/6 "2020-06-06T15:37:23Z")
I'm recommending using the default value. Which means reverting all the changes you did. ---
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/7 "2020-06-06T15:39:01Z")
that would be 4g that does not work ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/8 "2020-06-06T15:54:53Z")
That's not the default values. ---
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/9 "2020-06-06T16:02:15Z")
so would you be so nice to tell me what what the default value is? I cannot find a value on google & co for it . I reinstalled the latest java openjdk-devel-14.0.1.7-2 but the Virtual Machine can still not be created _`Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine`_ Thanks in advance, Uli ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/10 "2020-06-06T17:03:57Z")
Download the default distribution. Unzip. Launch. Don't touch any file or settings. This should work out of the box. ---
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/11 "2020-06-06T17:11:35Z")
I have to use centos8 so I reinstalled elasticsearch so jvm.options now show Xms and Xmx value 1g but when I try to start elasticsearch I get these errors: ``` *journalctl -xe* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.jav>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: Caused by: com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.snakeyaml.error.MarkedYAML>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: in 'reader', line 61, column 8:* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: - name: xpack.ml.enabled* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: ^* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at [Source: (sun.nio.ch.ChannelInputStream); line: 61, column: 8]* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.snakeyaml.error.MarkedYAML>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.YAMLParser.nextToken(YAMLP>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.json.JsonXContentParser.nextTo>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings.fromXContent(Settings>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings.fromXContent(Settings>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings.access$400(Settings.j>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings$Builder.loadFromStrea>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: ... 9 more* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: Caused by: mapping values are not allowed here* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: in 'reader', line 61, column 8:* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: - name: xpack.ml.enabled* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: ^* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.yaml.snakeyaml.scanner.ScannerImpl.fetchValue(ScannerImpl.ja>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.yaml.snakeyaml.scanner.ScannerImpl.fetchMoreTokens(ScannerIm>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.yaml.snakeyaml.scanner.ScannerImpl.checkToken(ScannerImpl.ja>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.yaml.snakeyaml.parser.ParserImpl$ParseBlockMappingKey.produc>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.yaml.snakeyaml.parser.ParserImpl.peekEvent(ParserImpl.java:1>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at org.yaml.snakeyaml.parser.ParserImpl.getEvent(ParserImpl.java:16>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: at com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.YAMLParser.nextToken(YAMLP>* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd-entrypoint[5695]: ... 14 more* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd[1]: elasticsearch.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE* *Jun 06 19:08:23 keyhole systemd[1]: elasticsearch.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.* ``` Regards, Uli ---
**Author:** ![Coinology](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Coinology](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Coinology)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/12 "2020-06-06T17:42:07Z")
@uek those errors appear to be related to your YAML. The YAML you posted at [https://pastebin.com/m4P5f5qy](https://pastebin.com/m4P5f5qy) has invalid values on lines 61 & 62. You took care of that setting on line 99. Try removing those lines and let us know the result. ---
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/13 "2020-06-06T17:49:43Z")
Hi, thanks a lot I will do and tell you about the result. Regards, Uli ---
**Author:** ![uek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@uek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/uek)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/14 "2020-06-06T21:07:29Z")
Problem solved! Many thanks to [Coinology](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Coinology)[Joshua Jones](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Coinology) the /etc/systemd/system/elasticsearch.service.d/override.conf file containing these lines: ``` *[Service]* *LimitMEMLOCK=infinity* *& putting this option * **`xpack.ml.enabled: false`* o*n top of the elasticsearch.yml file made it ``` ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2022, 8:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cannot-start-elasticsearch-on-centos8/235961/15 "2022-11-04T08:01:20Z")