# Ignore\_older - Infrequently updated log file

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-infrequently-updated-log-file/34532
**Category:** Beats
**Tags:** filebeat
**Created:** [November 13, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-infrequently-updated-log-file/34532 "2015-11-13T16:49:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![ccannell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@ccannell](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ccannell)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-infrequently-updated-log-file/34532/1 "2015-11-13T16:49:02Z")

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I just migrated to filebeats yesterday, am just starting to look into how it's performing.

Need some clarification on the `ignore_older` parameter. Does this mean if a file hasn't been updated in the defined time, it is no longer checked at all?

I have some error logs that may not get updated entries for hours or days. I am using the default of 10 mins.

Thanks

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### Author: ![ruflin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ruflin/32/3116_2.png) [@ruflin](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ruflin)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-infrequently-updated-log-file/34532/2 "2015-11-13T20:29:08Z")

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As soon as the file is update again, it will be picked up again next time the prospector is looking for new files. It depends on the scan\_frequency setting on how fast this happens. Does this help?

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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: [July 5, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ignore-older-infrequently-updated-log-file/34532/3 "2017-07-05T21:58:12Z")

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