# Insufficent permission for apm\_system user
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197
**Category:** APM
**Tags:** server
**Created:** [July 6, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197 "2019-07-06T08:18:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chikien276](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chikien276)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197/1 "2019-07-06T08:18:38Z")
My APM server cannot connect to ElasticSearch using apm\_system user and ,
I've tried disable and enabled `setup.template.overwrite`.
**Kibana version** :
7.2.0
**Elasticsearch version** :
7.2.0
**APM Server version** :
7.2.0
**APM Agent language and version** :
**Browser version** :
**Original install method (e.g. download page, yum, deb, from source, etc.) and version**: I downloaded zips and created Windows services
**Fresh install or upgraded from other version?** Fresh
**Is there anything special in your setup?**
I started with no X-Pack security enabled first, then hours later, I enabled security and created password for default system users/accounts
**Description of the problem including expected versus actual behavior. Please include screenshots (if relevant)**:
APM server logs show that it cannot connect to ElasticSearch due to following logs.
**Errors in browser console (if relevant)**:
**Provide logs and/or server output (if relevant)**:
ERROR pipeline/output.go:100 Failed to connect to backoff(elasticsearch([http://localhost:9200](http://localhost:9200))): Connection marked as failed because the onConnect callback failed: error loading Elasticsearch template: could not load template. Elasticsearch returned: couldn't load template: 403 Forbidden: {"error":{"root\_cause":[{"type":"security\_exception","reason":"action [indices:admin/template/put] is unauthorized for user [apm\_system]"}],"type":"security\_exception","reason":"action [indices:admin/template/put] is unauthorized for user [apm\_system]"},"status":403}. Response body: {"error":{"root\_cause":[{"type":"security\_exception","reason":"action [indices:admin/template/put] is unauthorized for user [apm\_system]"}],"type":"security\_exception","reason":"action [indices:admin/template/put] is unauthorized for user [apm\_system]"},"status":403}. Template is: {
"index\_patterns": [
"apm-7.2.0\*"
],
...
}
---
### Author:  [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197/2 "2019-07-07T22:37:38Z")
Hello and thanks for trying Elastic APM and welcome to the Elastic Discuss Forum.
Question ... how did you configure the Output section in the `apm-server.yml` did you use the built in `elastic` user or some other user?
```
#-------------------------- Elasticsearch output ------------------------------
output.elasticsearch:
# Array of hosts to connect to.
# Scheme and port can be left out and will be set to the default (http and 9200)
# In case you specify and additional path, the scheme is required: http://localhost:9200/path
# IPv6 addresses should always be defined as: https://[2001:db8::1]:9200
hosts: ["my-es-cluster:9200"]
# Boolean flag to enable or disable the output module.
#enabled: true
# Set gzip compression level.
#compression_level: 0
# Optional protocol and basic auth credentials.
protocol: "https"
username: "elastic"
password: "changeme"
```
---
### Author:  [@chikien276](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chikien276)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 8:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197/3 "2019-07-08T08:38:45Z")
Thank you,
I used `apm_system` built in user. So, according to your answer, I should use `elastic` user instead of `apm_system`, shouldn't I?
---
### Author:  [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197/4 "2019-07-08T15:07:01Z")
Yes apologies for not being clear use the `elastic` user not the `apm_system` user which is typically used for monitoring the APM Server not for ingesting APM events. See built in roles [here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elastic-stack-overview/7.2/built-in-roles.html)
---
### Author:  [@chikien276](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/chikien276)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197/5 "2019-07-08T17:08:30Z")
Thank you very much for your reply.
I’m sure that it is going to work well.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/insufficent-permission-for-apm-system-user/189197/6 "2019-07-29T13:08:35Z")
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