# Log file decode error

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-file-decode-error/85707>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [May 15, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-file-decode-error/85707 "2017-05-15T05:47:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LmYjQ](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/lmyjq/32/97480_2.png) [@LmYjQ](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/LmYjQ)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-file-decode-error/85707/1 "2017-05-15T05:47:22Z")

</div>

I'm using gz\_lines codec in logstash referring this post [Read a gzip file with gzip\_lines codec - #12 by TC\_Huang](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/read-a-gzip-file-with-gzip-lines-codec/24558/12)

But end up with

> ```
> 13:26:37.747 [[main]<file] DEBUG logstash.inputs.file - Received line {:path=>"/data1/logs/logs/20170514/access.log.20170514_501.log.gz", :text=>"\x1F\x8B\b\x00a\xB9\x17Y\x00\x03\xEC\xBD\xD9r\x1CW\x92-\xFA|\xEEW\xC0\xF4Pv\x8E\x9Dfj\xFB\xB0'\x94\xC9\xCA\xA8\xA1%u\x89\x14%\xB1J\xAA~\x81\xED\xB1\x04k\x8AdsPu\xF5\xB5\xFB\xEF\xD7=\x12\td$\xC1\x8CH\xE4@\x8Aj\x8Dd\x12@DF\xBA\xAF\xBD|Z\x8E\x06\xFC=c\xEF\x01?6\xF1\xDC\xBAs\x13\xFF\xAF\t\xE7\xC6\xFC\xAF\xF2\xEB\xE2\xF9\x8Bg\xF5uy\xB5H\xA5\xB4\x97/\x17\xBF<\xCB\x97O\xDA\xFF\xFA\x7F?z\x91J\xFB\xE8\xFC\xA3\xF4$\xBF\xFE\xE5\xA3\x7F\xF9\xE8\xD7\xCB\xDA\x9E]\\\xD6\x8F\xCE\x03a\x8C\xC1\xB9\x7F\xF9\xE8\xF2\xB9|\x01\x04Z \x9A\x05\xFB\x85\xB7\xF2\x85\xA5>\x95W\xE5\xBF\xF7\xFE\xD1\xF2\xBD\xFF|\xBA(\xCF\x9E<{\xF1\xEB\xA2<\x95?L\xE5\x95\xFC\xE1\xEB\xE75\xBDj\xFA\xDBz\xF1\xEA\x9F\xCF\xF52\xF7\xEB\x17\xFFU~NO\xFF>\xBC\xFC\xF7\xF6T\xBF\xEE\xC1\xB3\xFF\xBE|\xF2$}l\x17\xE6\xEC\x7F\x7Fs\xF9\xF4\xF5\x7F\xFD\xF1\xEC\xFE\xD3\xFA\xE2\xD9e=\xB3\v\xF8\xE3\xD9W\x7F\xB9\xFF\xE3\x17_\x9F=\xBE\xFF\xE5\xBD\xC7\xDF\x18s\xF6\xE9\xEB\xCB'\xF5\xE3\xE5\xAB\xAB\x17\xFFx\xF6\x8F_\xFF\xCF\xD9\xFD\xE7\xCF\x9F\xB4\x1F[\xFE\xF3\xE5\xAB\x8F-\xF9\x05\xB9\xB3\xFF\xFD\xE7\xAF\x1E?\xF8\xE6_\xCE\x9E\\\xFEG;\xFB\xB2\x95\xFFx\xF6\x7F\xCE\xFE\xDA^\xBC\xBC|\xF6\xF4c\x96+~\xF6\xF3\x8Bg\xBF4\xF9\xEA\x85Y\xA0\x0Fv\xC1\xF1\xEC\xC1\xF0t\xCE\x1E|\xF7\xDD\xA7/\x9E\xFD\xE3e{\xF1\xB1[\xE0\xD9\xE3O\x7F\xF8\xD80\xC9S8\xFB!\xF5\xF4\xE2ru\x89\a\x97\xE5\xC5\xB3\a\xF2X\x9B\xBC1\xFDZyTa\x11\xE5N\x1F\xB6W\x8F\xE5\x9D\x7F\xFC\xE3\xD7\xFF\xFA\xF5\xD97\xF2\xBE_\xCB\x9B\xFE\xF8\xBF\x7F\xBE\xF8\xEC\xA1>\x80\xD7\xAF~~\xF6\xE2\xE2\xBF\x9F=\x95gc\xAE\x7F\xFF\xA2\xFD\xFD\xF2\xE5\xAB\xF6\xA2\xD5\x8B\xA4\xCF\a\x87\xCF\x15\xEF\x81=\x038\x87x\x8E^\xBE\xF9\xF9\xB3\x97\xAF\x86\x0FJ\xBE\xF1\xF9\xEB\xFC\xE4\xF2\xE5\xCF\xE3oPC8\x13C`\xF9\x1E#\xDF\xF0\xA2u\xF9\x99/\xE4\xCF\xAF\x7F\xF3\xB4\xB4\xD5\x8Fx)\xB7\xAF\xBF\xFC\b\\H\xAE\x85B!Ev>\xA4j\x93\xB7\xD9r-\xA6\xE7\x14\xE4\x9B\xEB\xEB\x17\xE9\x95<\xBF\xF5\x9B\xBE|y\xF1\xFC\xC5e{\xF9jx\xB1>\xFB\xC7\xD3'\xCFn>\xF7_\xFE\x99\x9E?\xBFy\xC7\xAF\xEBp\xA9R\xC0woK\x8B\x81-\xA1\xFC\xF9\xCBW\xE9\xD5\xEB\x97\x17lxy\x9BW_\xFF\xEB\xF2\xF3R;}Z\xEF\xC9\xA7\xB6 \xF9\xC3_\x9E=\xA9\xAB\xDB\x7F\xFD\xE2\x89\xFC\xE9\xCF\xAF^=?\xFF\xF8\xE3\xC1\x88o\f\xF2\xE3\xE7O\xD2??^\xD9\xF3\x9F^\x7F\xB2q\xDD?<\xFF\xE4\x97\x7F\xFE\xA1|\x82\x7F(\xE9\xD5'\xAF\x9F\xEB\x8D\xFF\xA1\x8BU|\xF2\xF7\x17\xCF^?\xFFE\x9E\x8C|j\xCBW^\xFE\x9C^\xB4\x9B\e{\xF6ryO\xFAy\xC8\xD7\\\xFC\xC7\xE5S}c\xBF\\>\xBD\x1C\x1E\xF2\x7F\xBEnW\x9F\xD2G%Gh\xA8\xCF\x12"}
> 13:26:37.750 [[main]<file] DEBUG logstash.codecs.gziplines - config LogStash::Codecs::GzipLines/@id = "446e269adcc3464cce1afbe70bc122fe28523aaa-1"
> 13:26:37.750 [[main]<file] DEBUG logstash.codecs.gziplines - config LogStash::Codecs::GzipLines/@enable_metric = true
> 13:26:37.750 [[main]<file] DEBUG logstash.codecs.gziplines - config LogStash::Codecs::GzipLines/@charset = "UTF-8"
> 
> ```

I have tried several codecs, including: utf-16bl. utf-16, ascii, but none of these worked.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![guyboertje](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/guyboertje/32/31592_2.png) [@guyboertje](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/guyboertje)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 9:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-file-decode-error/85707/2 "2017-05-15T09:42:43Z")

</div>

You reading the gz file directly with the file input because it says `Received line {:path=>"/data1/logs/logs/20170514/access.log.20170514_501.log.gz"`.

The `gz_lines` codec works in an indirect way. The file input should read a file that has a list of gz files in it e.g. `all_the_zipped_logs.txt`.  
If setup correctly you should see something similar to `Received line {:path=>"/data1/logs/logs/all_the_zipped_logs.txt", :text=>"/data1/logs/logs/20170514/access.log.20170514_501.log.gz"}`  
The codec then should receive the path to the zipped file, open it and create events from each line in the zipped file.

NOTE there a few gotchas in this solution you should be aware of.

1. If the zipped file is big, then LS will not respond to a shutdown signal while its reading the zipped file.
2. You have used up your one codec limit - all further protocol decoding or multiline must be done in the filter stages - but the multiline filter is deprecated because it expects the events (each line in the zip file) to arrive in strict order and we could not guarantee that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LmYjQ](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/lmyjq/32/97480_2.png) [@LmYjQ](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/LmYjQ)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-file-decode-error/85707/3 "2017-05-17T01:17:40Z")

</div>

That's really helpful, thank you!

---

<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 14, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/log-file-decode-error/85707/4 "2017-06-14T01:18:16Z")

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