# Logstash 7.x service fails to start on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with OpenJDK 11 JDK as a service but starts otherwise
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [August 26, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506 "2020-08-26T19:55:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Henri.C.Lefevre](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Henri.C.Lefevre)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506/1 "2020-08-26T19:55:44Z")
I am trying to use logstash a SystemV service on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Whenever I try to use the **service** command, the service startup fails
```auto
> service logstash start && journalctl -u logstash
logstash.service: Failed to execute command: Exec format error
logstash.service: Failed at step EXEC spawning /usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash: Exec format error
```
I installed **openjdk-11-jdk** on my server for my application so I suppose this is what logstash uses to start
I am trying to use logstash a SystemV service on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Whenever I try to use the **service** command, the service startup fails
```auto
> service logstash start && journalctl -u logstash
logstash.service: Failed to execute command: Exec format error
logstash.service: Failed at step EXEC spawning /usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash: Exec format error
```
I installed **openjdk-11-jdk** on my server for my application so I suppose this is what logstash uses to start
```auto
> which java
/usr/bin/java
> /usr/bin/java --version
openjdk 11.0.8 2020-07-14
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu118.04.1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu118.04.1, mixed mode, sharing)
```
I installed logstash using APT from : deb [https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/7.x/apt](https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/7.x/apt) stable main
It seems that such errors occur when Java compatibility issues but from Elastic documentation OpenJDK 11 and logstash on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS should work.
The /etc/systemd/system/logstash.service file is :
```auto
[Unit]
Description=logstash
[Service]
Type=simple
User=logstash
Group=logstash
# Load env vars from /etc/default/ and /etc/sysconfig/ if they exist.
# Prefixing the path with '-' makes it try to load, but if the file doesn't
# exist, it continues onward.
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/logstash
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/sysconfig/logstash
ExecStart=/usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash "--path.settings" "/etc/logstash"
Restart=always
WorkingDirectory=/
Nice=19
LimitNOFILE=16384
# When stopping, how long to wait before giving up and sending SIGKILL?
# Keep in mind that SIGKILL on a process can cause data loss.
TimeoutStopSec=infinity
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```
Using the following command :
```auto
/usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash "--path.settings" "/etc/logstash"
```
Seems to work :
```auto
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM warning: Option UseConcMarkSweepGC was deprecated in version 9.0 and will likely be removed in a future release.
WARNING: An illegal reflective access operation has occurred
WARNING: Illegal reflective access by org.jruby.ext.openssl.SecurityHelper (file:/tmp/jruby-60735/jruby15836533716820282820jopenssl.jar) to field java.security.MessageDigest.provider
WARNING: Please consider reporting this to the maintainers of org.jruby.ext.openssl.SecurityHelper
WARNING: Use --illegal-access=warn to enable warnings of further illegal reflective access operations
WARNING: All illegal access operations will be denied in a future release
Sending Logstash logs to /var/log/logstash which is now configured via log4j2.properties
[2020-08-26T17:35:16,236][INFO][logstash.runner] Starting Logstash {"logstash.version"=>"7.9.0", "jruby.version"=>"jruby 9.2.12.0 (2.5.7) 2020-07-01 db01a49ba6 OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu118.04.1 on 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu118.04.1 +indy +jit [linux-x86_64]"}
....
[2020-08-26T17:35:24,858][INFO][logstash.agent] Pipelines running {:count=>1, :running_pipelines=>[:main], :non_running_pipelines=>[]}
[2020-08-26T17:35:25,057][INFO][logstash.agent] Successfully started Logstash API endpoint {:port=>9600}
```
What can be the issue ?
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2020, 1:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506/2 "2020-08-27T01:37:51Z")
Can you check the Logstash logs, not just the response from `service logstash start`, and see what it mentions?
---
### Author:  [@Henri.C.Lefevre](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Henri.C.Lefevre)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2020, 7:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506/3 "2020-08-27T07:45:44Z")
From what I see logs remain empty when I attempt to start Logstash using the service command :
```auto
/var/log/logstash# ll
total 8
drwxrwxr-x 2 logstash root 4096 Aug 26 16:55 ./
drwxrwxr-x 12 root syslog 4096 Aug 27 00:00 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 26 16:55 logstash-deprecation.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 27 07:41 logstash-plain.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug 26 16:55 logstash-slowlog-plain.log
```
The **logstash-plain.log** only fills when I start Logstash without the **service** command
---
### Author:  [@Henri.C.Lefevre](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Henri.C.Lefevre)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2020, 7:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506/4 "2020-08-27T07:53:13Z")
Ok, it seems that it was an issue with a custom line added in the **/usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash** file, I will confirm this and close this thread once done
---
### Author:  [@Henri.C.Lefevre](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Henri.C.Lefevre)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506/5 "2020-08-27T15:58:15Z")
Ok, I confirm that using the default configuration file **/usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash** works fine for me.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-7-x-service-fails-to-start-on-ubuntu-18-04-lts-with-openjdk-11-jdk-as-a-service-but-starts-otherwise/246506/6 "2020-09-24T15:58:18Z")
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