# How to start Filebeat?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-start-filebeat/80133>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [March 27, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-start-filebeat/80133 "2017-03-27T12:43:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bobbysidhartha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@bobbysidhartha](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bobbysidhartha)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-start-filebeat/80133/1 "2017-03-27T12:43:54Z")

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Hi,  
I am a new comer to Beats and Im trying to learn it starting with Filebeats. I understood that filebeats.yml is the file where you define your input and output file. In my Linux system, I gave them as below.

```auto
- input_type: log
  # Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
  paths:
    - /var/log/*.log
    - /home/cloudera/Desktop/inpB

#-------------------------- Elasticsearch output ------------------------------
output.elasticsearch:
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
  hosts: ["localhost:9200"]
  paths:
    - /home/cloudera/Desktop/outB

```

Im trying to run the filebeats using the command: ./filebeat -e -c packetbeat.yml  
but it says: bash: ./packetbeat: No such file or directory

Is there anything else we need to add to the files.  
Can some one tell me if Im giving the input and output files at the right places and using the right command to execute it ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [March 27, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-start-filebeat/80133/2 "2017-03-27T13:26:47Z")

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This information is covered in the [getting started guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-getting-started.html).

The second `paths` that you defined under the elasticsearch output should be removed. If you are trying to output to a file then see the [file output](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/file-output.html).

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**Author:** ![prodrg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@prodrg](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/prodrg)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-start-filebeat/80133/3 "2017-03-27T15:02:21Z")

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By the way, why are you using packetbeat.yml for Filebeat? Maybe the command you need must be:

`./filebeat -e -c filebeat.yml`

And just in case, try to use the absolute path for the settings file.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-start-filebeat/80133/4 "2017-04-24T15:02:36Z")

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