# Is it possible to configure LogStash with external input file?

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-configure-logstash-with-external-input-file/133653
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [May 29, 2018, 10:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-configure-logstash-with-external-input-file/133653 "2018-05-29T10:03:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![clash\_of\_clanss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@clash\_of\_clanss](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/clash_of_clanss)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 10:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-configure-logstash-with-external-input-file/133653/1 "2018-05-29T10:03:01Z")

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Now I am working with ELK(ElasticSearch, LogStash, Kibana). I would like to know, how to configure LogStash with external input configuration file. Lets say for example If I am having an external xml configuration file like this, See this example XML configuration file.  
 ![43%20PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/8/5/85e31848fb3c0eee24fabce5636c82e9353db280.png)

So I like to get LogStash input path from this external xml file. is it possible to read external document from LogStash? if yes please share your solutions. or any other suggestions are really appreciated.  
Thanks,

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### Author: ![MrNerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mrnerd/32/30763_2.png) [@MrNerd](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MrNerd)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 10:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-configure-logstash-with-external-input-file/133653/2 "2018-05-29T10:16:30Z")

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Hy, @clash_of_clanss.

This is an example of an input file configuration

```auto
input {
    file {
        path => "/service/nginx/logs/*access.log"
        type => "nginx_access"
    }  
}

```

Regards

MrNerd

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![clash\_of\_clanss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@clash\_of\_clanss](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/clash_of_clanss)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 10:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-configure-logstash-with-external-input-file/133653/3 "2018-05-29T10:20:27Z")

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Thanks for responding MrNerd. In this case we are directly assigned path as input. But I dont want this static type of path declaration, I want it to be dynamic. So is there any possible to get path value from external input?

Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![MrNerd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mrnerd/32/30763_2.png) [@MrNerd](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/MrNerd)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2018, 10:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-configure-logstash-with-external-input-file/133653/4 "2018-05-29T10:33:08Z")

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Do you mean relative path when you say dynamic?

Regards

MrNerd

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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: [June 26, 2018, 10:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-to-configure-logstash-with-external-input-file/133653/5 "2018-06-26T10:33:10Z")

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