# ElasticSearch 5.0.0-aplha4 won't start without setting vm.max\_map\_count **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [August 8, 2016, 12:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471 "2016-08-08T12:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrunalgosar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mrunalgosar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mrunalgosar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 12:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/1 "2016-08-08T12:02:38Z")
Hi Team I wish to update my ES version from 2.3 to 5.0.0-alpha4 to be able to use Ingest nodes and remove Logstash out of the question. But it seems ES 5.x version won't start without me setting vm.max\_map\_count to 262144. I don't want to set that value..I am okay with default value 65530. Can anyone guide me how to get ES 5.x started without tampering memory settings at all. I don't have access to root user on the host on which i wish to install ES. Error: java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: seccomp unavailable: CONFIG\_SECCOMP not compiled into kernel, CONFIG\_SECCOMP and CONFIG\_SECCOMP\_FILTER are needed at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Seccomp.linuxImpl(Seccomp.java:347) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Seccomp.init(Seccomp.java:616) [2016-08-08 07:49:55,436][INFO][node] [data-cum-ingest-node] initializing ... [2016-08-08 07:49:56,048][INFO][plugins] [data-cum-ingest-node] modules [percolator, lang-mustache, lang-painless, reindex, aggs-matrix-stats, lang-expression, ingest-common, lang-groovy], plugins [] [2016-08-08 07:49:56,601][INFO][env] [data-cum-ingest-node] heap size [7.9gb], compressed ordinary object pointers [true] [2016-08-08 07:49:57,582][INFO][node] [data-cum-ingest-node] initialized [2016-08-08 07:49:57,582][INFO][node] [data-cum-ingest-node] starting ... [2016-08-08 07:49:57,635][ERROR][bootstrap] [data-cum-ingest-node] Exception java.lang.RuntimeException: bootstrap checks failed max virtual memory areas vm.max\_map\_count [65530] likely too low, increase to at least [262144] at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.BootstrapCheck.check(BootstrapCheck.java:125) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.BootstrapCheck.check(BootstrapCheck.java:85) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.BootstrapCheck.check(BootstrapCheck.java:65) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap$5.validateNodeBeforeAcceptingRequests(Bootstrap.java:178) at org.elasticsearch.node.Node.start(Node.java:373) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:193) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.init(Bootstrap.java:252) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.init(Elasticsearch.java:96) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.execute(Elasticsearch.java:91) at org.elasticsearch.cli.SettingCommand.execute(SettingCommand.java:54) at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.mainWithoutErrorHandling(Command.java:91) at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.main(Command.java:53) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:70) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:63) Suppressed: java.lang.IllegalStateException: max virtual memory areas vm.max\_map\_count [65530] likely too low, increase to at least [262144] at java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline$3$1.accept(ReferencePipeline.java:193) at java.util.ArrayList$ArrayListSpliterator.forEachRemaining(ArrayList.java:1374) at java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.copyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:481) at java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.wrapAndCopyInto(AbstractPipeline.java:471) at java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:151) at java.util.stream.ForEachOps$ForEachOp$OfRef.evaluateSequential(ForEachOps.java:174) at java.util.stream.AbstractPipeline.evaluate(AbstractPipeline.java:234) at java.util.stream.ReferencePipeline.forEach(ReferencePipeline.java:418) at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.BootstrapCheck.check(BootstrapCheck.java:126) ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 3:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/2 "2016-08-09T03:10:32Z")
We've added a number of bootstrap checks in 5.0 to ensure that environments are correctly setup, take a look at [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/bootstrap-checks.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/bootstrap-checks.html) ---
**Author:** ![mrunalgosar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mrunalgosar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mrunalgosar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 6:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/3 "2016-08-09T06:31:16Z")
Is there a bypass to this..My real requirement is to use Ingest node feature..which i believe is only available in ES 5.x versions..Can we bypass the checks which would require commands being executed using root..The motivation behind using Ingest node is to be able to do away with logstash as its heavy and does not gives me desired performance. ---
**Author:** ![jpountz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jpountz/32/45836_2.png) [@jpountz](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jpountz)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 8:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/4 "2016-08-09T08:16:32Z")
You can disable these checks with the `bootstrap.ignore_system_bootstrap_checks` node setting. But to be clear, it is _highly_ advised to fix the problem rather than disabling the check! ---
**Author:** ![mrunalgosar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mrunalgosar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mrunalgosar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 10:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/5 "2016-08-09T10:20:12Z")
I tried using bootstrap.ignore\_system\_bootstrap\_checks: true but it still checks. I had ES\_JAVA\_OPTS set to -Xms1g -Xmx8g and it started crying. EDIT: Not sure why startup memory should be same as maximum memory as part of bootstrap check ---
**Author:** ![nguoianphu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nguoianphu/32/11325_2.png) [@nguoianphu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nguoianphu)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/6 "2016-10-28T02:15:25Z")
> [@mrunalgosar](#): > > I tried using bootstrap.ignore\_system\_bootstrap\_checks: true but it still checks. I had ES\_JAVA\_OPTS set to -Xms1g -Xmx8g and it started crying. > EDIT: Not sure why startup memory should be same as maximum memory as part of bootstrap check Hi, Did you resolve this issue? I'm having the same issue with **vm.max\_map\_count**. I tried to set **bootstrap.ignore\_system\_bootstrap\_checks** to **true** but it still has the issue. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mrunalgosar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mrunalgosar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mrunalgosar)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/7 "2016-10-28T14:07:27Z")
There are lots of checks internally done, which makes ES 5.x difficult to configure. So i left it there itself and switched back to using ES 2.x versions. I wonder if people would like ES 5.x version because of so many constraints. ---
**Author:** ![shanec](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shanec/32/4004_2.png) [@shanec](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shanec)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/8 "2016-10-28T14:16:14Z")
Note that these checks are being done for your protection. 2.x does not have any of these checks which means you're just ignoring the things that could eventually result in shard allocation failure, nodes leaving the cluster, etc. And those things may happen to you at 3am, taking your production cluster down. These checks are certainly annoying, which we [acknowledge](https://www.elastic.co/blog/bootstrap_checks_annoying_instead_of_devastating) but ultimately they're there to make sure you don't have a miserable experience including data loss months down the line, having ignored/deferred something we know causes problems. We have a list of the checks to address before you get into production at [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/\_heap\_size\_check.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/_heap_size_check.html) ---
**Author:** ![mrunalgosar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mrunalgosar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mrunalgosar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2016, 8:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/9 "2016-10-30T08:11:23Z")
I would recommend this checks be optional for those who want to deploy in prod. Users like me who use this only non prod env for QA purposes and who are okay with certain loss of data its fine, cause deployment in our use case is not full fledge. ---
**Author:** ![nguoianphu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nguoianphu/32/11325_2.png) [@nguoianphu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nguoianphu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/10 "2016-10-31T02:40:31Z")
> [@mrunalgosar](#): > > I would recommend this checks be optional for those who want to deploy in prod. Users like me who use this only non prod env for QA purposes and who are okay with certain loss of data its fine, cause deployment in our use case is not full fledge. Agreed! These checks need to be optional. ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/11 "2016-10-31T02:42:06Z")
You may also want to read [https://www.elastic.co/blog/bootstrap\_checks\_annoying\_instead\_of\_devastating](https://www.elastic.co/blog/bootstrap_checks_annoying_instead_of_devastating) ---
**Author:** ![nguoianphu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nguoianphu/32/11325_2.png) [@nguoianphu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nguoianphu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/12 "2016-10-31T03:31:23Z")
> [@warkolm](#): > > You may also want to read [Bootstrap checks: Annoying you now instead of devastating you later! | Elastic Blog](https://www.elastic.co/blog/bootstrap_checks_annoying_instead_of_devastating) Problem here: > Anyway, we think that **99%** of folks that have "real" "production" installation of Elasticsearch will bind to a non-local IP address. We also think that most folks that bind to a non-local IP address are either setting up a "real" installation of Elasticsearch or are running Elasticsearch in a container or VM, resumably set up using a configuration management system like Puppet/Chef/Ansible/Salt/bash-cripts-and-duct-tape. Unfortunately, I'm in the 1% of guys who want to run ES 5.x in a Docker container. ☹ But it's okay, I can deal with it on Linux Docker host by setting `vm.max_map_count=262144`. The only problem I have now is my Windows Docker host (boot2docker), the setting `vm.max_map_count=262144` is reset after I reboot my machine. 😥 ---
**Author:** ![nguoianphu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nguoianphu/32/11325_2.png) [@nguoianphu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nguoianphu)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/13 "2016-11-02T02:23:42Z")
Thanks, I know how to make the setting persistent on Boot2docker now. ``` docker-machine ssh default sudo vi /var/lib/boot2docker/profile # Add this line into the profile file sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Oleg\_Sivokon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3da27b/32.png) [@Oleg\_Sivokon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Oleg_Sivokon)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/14 "2016-12-15T11:50:57Z")
This particular requirement only shows how lame ES developers are and how poorly they understand what they are doing. Under any circumstances this should not be made mandatory. Also, whoever told you that "99% of all folks run this crap in production" had no idea what he was talking about either. Unfortunately, this piece of garbage is installed on lots of internal CI / development system. And its widespread use is the only thing that perpetuates itself in this very sector. ---
**Author:** ![Cory\_Lee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/cory_lee/32/14120_2.png) [@Cory\_Lee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Cory_Lee)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/15 "2016-12-23T18:09:15Z")
Another 1% docker user here, please remove this memory check. I shouldn't have to make modifications to the host machine to run the application in a docker container, that defeats the whole purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Cory\_Lee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/cory_lee/32/14120_2.png) [@Cory\_Lee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Cory_Lee)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/16 "2016-12-23T18:12:56Z")
Ideally i think one could simply turn off the bootstrap memory check, I see the value of the bootstrap checks, and I understand why you made running them mandatory, but since ES in a docker container is always detected to be running in 'production' mode, it can be rather problematic ---
**Author:** ![jasontedor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jasontedor/32/66992_2.png) [@jasontedor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jasontedor)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/17 "2017-01-02T16:06:06Z")
> [@Oleg\_Sivokon](#): > > This particular requirement only shows how lame ES developers are and how poorly they understand what they are doing. Under any circumstances this should not be made mandatory. > > Also, whoever told you that "99% of all folks run this crap in production" had no idea what he was talking about either. Unfortunately, this piece of garbage is installed on lots of internal CI / development system. And its widespread use is the only thing that perpetuates itself in this very sector. We will happily listen to and carefully consider constructive criticism. But posting confrontationally like this establishes you as an adversary rather than a collaborator, is an ineffective way to make a point, and contributes to building a poor reputation for yourself. I say this hoping that it will have a positive impact on you but even if not I state it for the benefit of the entire community that we expect civil discourse here. ---
**Author:** ![arlo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/arlo/32/16095_2.png) [@arlo](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/arlo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/18 "2017-03-05T04:04:55Z")
just realized (by reading the excellent docs!) that I can make these checks non-fatal by unsetting the `network.host` configuration and then that indicates it's not in production mode. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-5-0-0-aplha4-wont-start-without-setting-vm-max-map-count/57471/19 "2017-07-05T22:02:36Z")