# Filebeat module vs filebeat output plugin?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-module-vs-filebeat-output-plugin/234143>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [May 25, 2020, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-module-vs-filebeat-output-plugin/234143 "2020-05-25T11:39:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kosodrom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kosodrom/32/99278_2.png) [@Kosodrom](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Kosodrom)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-module-vs-filebeat-output-plugin/234143/1 "2020-05-25T11:39:59Z")

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Hi,

what is the difference between so called filebeat module and output plugin like:

`output.elasticsearch:`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [May 26, 2020, 12:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-module-vs-filebeat-output-plugin/234143/2 "2020-05-26T00:31:57Z")

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A module is a collection of things like configurations, dashboards, ingest pipelines, ML jobs, Alerts etc.

An output is where you'd send the data that Filebeat processes.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kosodrom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kosodrom/32/99278_2.png) [@Kosodrom](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Kosodrom)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2020, 9:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-module-vs-filebeat-output-plugin/234143/3 "2020-05-27T09:33:22Z")

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Thanks for the answer.

Still I have some nuncertainties. I am able to provide in the filebeat input the path to the log files like this:

```
filebeat:
  # List of inputs.
  inputs:
    [{"paths": ["/var/log/elasticsearch/*.log"], "type": "log"}]

```

And in the module configuration I have also to configure:

```
# Module: elasticsearch
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/7.6/filebeat-module-elasticsearch.html

- module: elasticsearch
  # Server log
  server:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    var.paths:
      - /var/log/elasticsearch/*.log    
      - /var/log/elasticsearch/*_server.json

```

So can I leave out the input configurationn in the `filebeat.yml` out then? Or do I need to have both? Or is input only enough?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [May 28, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-module-vs-filebeat-output-plugin/234143/4 "2020-05-28T00:24:00Z")

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Just enable the module, you shouldn't need to define the input section as well.

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<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:** [June 25, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-module-vs-filebeat-output-plugin/234143/5 "2020-06-25T00:24:01Z")

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