# Logstash CPU utilization is high

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [May 22, 2018, 6:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727 "2018-05-22T06:37:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rahulnama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@rahulnama](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rahulnama)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 6:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/21 "2018-05-25T06:48:08Z")

</div>

@magnusbaeck

Appreciate your help in answering all the questions in the forum. I do read all your answers. Should be thankful to you as an elastic developer.

Thank you much 🙂

Rahul Nama

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/22 "2018-05-25T11:10:05Z")

</div>

Hey Magnusbaeck,

I haven't done any changes in logstash.yaml file. By default log.level : info  
I have uploaded my logstash.yaml file.

# Settings file in YAML

# 

# Settings can be specified either in hierarchical form, e.g.:

# 

# pipeline:

# batch:

# size: 125

# delay: 5

# 

# Or as flat keys:

# 

# pipeline.batch.size: 125

# pipeline.batch.delay: 5

# 

# ------------ Node identity ------------

# 

# Use a descriptive name for the node:

# 

# node.name: test

# 

# If omitted the node name will default to the machine's host name

# 

# ------------ Data path ------------------

# 

# Which directory should be used by logstash and its plugins

# for any persistent needs. Defaults to LOGSTASH\_HOME/data

# 

path.data: /var/lib/logstash

# 

# ------------ Pipeline Settings --------------

# 

# The ID of the pipeline.

# 

# pipeline.id: main

# 

# Set the number of workers that will, in parallel, execute the filters+outputs

# stage of the pipeline.

# 

# This defaults to the number of the host's CPU cores.

# 

# pipeline.workers: 2

# 

# How many events to retrieve from inputs before sending to filters+workers

# 

# pipeline.batch.size: 125

# 

# How long to wait in milliseconds while polling for the next event

# before dispatching an undersized batch to filters+outputs

# 

# pipeline.batch.delay: 50

# 

# Force Logstash to exit during shutdown even if there are still inflight

# events in memory. By default, logstash will refuse to quit until all

# received events have been pushed to the outputs.

# 

# WARNING: enabling this can lead to data loss during shutdown

# 

# pipeline.unsafe\_shutdown: false

# 

# ------------ Pipeline Configuration Settings --------------

# 

# Where to fetch the pipeline configuration for the main pipeline

# 

path.config: /etc/logstash/conf.d

# 

# Pipeline configuration string for the main pipeline

# 

# config.string:

# 

# At startup, test if the configuration is valid and exit (dry run)

# 

# config.test\_and\_exit: false

# 

# Periodically check if the configuration has changed and reload the pipeline

# This can also be triggered manually through the SIGHUP signal

# 

# config.reload.automatic: false

# 

# How often to check if the pipeline configuration has changed (in seconds)

# 

# config.reload.interval: 3s

# 

# Show fully compiled configuration as debug log message

# NOTE: --log.level must be 'debug'

# 

# config.debug: false

# 

# When enabled, process escaped characters such as \n and " in strings in the

# pipeline configuration files.

# 

# config.support\_escapes: false

# 

# ------------ Module Settings ---------------

# Define modules here. Modules definitions must be defined as an array.

# The simple way to see this is to prepend each `name` with a `-`, and keep

# all associated variables under the `name` they are associated with, and

# above the next, like this:

# 

# modules:

# - name: MODULE\_NAME

# var.PLUGINTYPE1.PLUGINNAME1.KEY1: VALUE

# var.PLUGINTYPE1.PLUGINNAME1.KEY2: VALUE

# var.PLUGINTYPE2.PLUGINNAME1.KEY1: VALUE

# var.PLUGINTYPE3.PLUGINNAME3.KEY1: VALUE

# 

# Module variable names must be in the format of

# 

# var.PLUGIN\_TYPE.PLUGIN\_NAME.KEY

# 

# modules:

# 

# ------------ Cloud Settings ---------------

# Define Elastic Cloud settings here.

# Format of cloud.id is a base64 value e.g. dXMtZWFzdC0xLmF3cy5mb3VuZC5pbyRub3RhcmVhbCRpZGVudGlmaWVy

# and it may have an label prefix e.g. staging:dXMtZ...

# This will overwrite 'var.elasticsearch.hosts' and 'var.kibana.host'

# cloud.id:

# 

# Format of cloud.auth is: :

# This is optional

# If supplied this will overwrite 'var.elasticsearch.username' and 'var.elasticsearch.password'

# If supplied this will overwrite 'var.kibana.username' and 'var.kibana.password'

# cloud.auth: elastic:

# 

# ------------ Queuing Settings --------------

# 

# Internal queuing model, "memory" for legacy in-memory based queuing and

# "persisted" for disk-based acked queueing. Defaults is memory

# 

# queue.type: memory

# 

# If using queue.type: persisted, the directory path where the data files will be stored.

# Default is path.data/queue

# 

# path.queue:

# 

# If using queue.type: persisted, the page data files size. The queue data consists of

# append-only data files separated into pages. Default is 64mb

# 

# queue.page\_capacity: 64mb

# 

# If using queue.type: persisted, the maximum number of unread events in the queue.

# Default is 0 (unlimited)

# 

# queue.max\_events: 0

# 

# If using queue.type: persisted, the total capacity of the queue in number of bytes.

# If you would like more unacked events to be buffered in Logstash, you can increase the

# capacity using this setting. Please make sure your disk drive has capacity greater than

# the size specified here. If both max\_bytes and max\_events are specified, Logstash will pick

# whichever criteria is reached first

# Default is 1024mb or 1gb

# 

# queue.max\_bytes: 1024mb

# 

# If using queue.type: persisted, the maximum number of acked events before forcing a checkpoint

# Default is 1024, 0 for unlimited

# 

# queue.checkpoint.acks: 1024

# 

# If using queue.type: persisted, the maximum number of written events before forcing a checkpoint

# Default is 1024, 0 for unlimited

# 

# queue.checkpoint.writes: 1024

# 

# If using queue.type: persisted, the interval in milliseconds when a checkpoint is forced on the head page

# Default is 1000, 0 for no periodic checkpoint.

# 

# queue.checkpoint.interval: 1000

# 

# ------------ Dead-Letter Queue Settings --------------

# Flag to turn on dead-letter queue.

# 

# dead\_letter\_queue.enable: false

# If using dead\_letter\_queue.enable: true, the maximum size of each dead letter queue. Entries

# will be dropped if they would increase the size of the dead letter queue beyond this setting.

# Default is 1024mb

# dead\_letter\_queue.max\_bytes: 1024mb

# If using dead\_letter\_queue.enable: true, the directory path where the data files will be stored.

# Default is path.data/dead\_letter\_queue

# 

# path.dead\_letter\_queue:

# 

# ------------ Metrics Settings --------------

# 

# Bind address for the metrics REST endpoint

# 

# http.host: "127.0.0.1"

# 

# Bind port for the metrics REST endpoint, this option also accept a range

# (9600-9700) and logstash will pick up the first available ports.

# 

# http.port: 9600-9700

# 

# ------------ Debugging Settings --------------

# 

# Options for log.level:

# \* fatal

# \* error

# \* warn

# \* info (default)

# \* debug

# \* trace

# 

# log.level: info

path.logs: /var/log/logstash

# 

# ------------ Other Settings --------------

# 

# Where to find custom plugins

# path.plugins: []

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/23 "2018-05-25T11:15:58Z")

</div>

> I haven't done any changes in logstash.yaml file. By default log.level : info

So change it to "debug" and look for clues in the log.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/24 "2018-05-25T11:20:17Z")

</div>

Ok. Let me try and will let you know.

Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/25 "2018-05-25T11:46:00Z")

</div>

I tried by using log.level:debug.

According to me logstash.conf file is not running from /etc/logstash/conf.d directory.  
I have uploaded logstash-plain.log  
Sorry, I am asking you very silly questions.

 ![logstash_error](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/5/8/58719d6c874589254da9a618d5817ec182354ecd.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/26 "2018-05-25T13:37:38Z")

</div>

The "\_globbed\_files" lines indicate that Logstash isn't finding any log files, probably because it doesn't have permissions to access the /var/log/httpd directory.

---

<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 25, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/27 "2018-05-25T17:08:52Z")

</div>

From some web resources...

> RHEL / Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora Linux Apache error file location – /var/log/httpd/error\_log  
> Debian / Ubuntu Linux Apache error log file location – /var/log/apache2/error.log  
> FreeBSD Apache error log file location – /var/log/httpd-error.log

When you switch to Ubuntu you have to change the config.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/28 "2018-05-26T07:24:10Z")

</div>

Hey Magnusbaeck,  
When I am running conf file from /usr/share/logstash/bin directory then there is no permission error and I am running same conf file. I have uploaded kibana output of apache error log file.

 ![apache_errorlog](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/9/c/9cc1e5c41b8a19ad49e1ea22e3df90889890c7b8.png)  
Thank you

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2018, 7:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/29 "2018-05-26T07:29:06Z")

</div>

Hey Guyboertje,

Whatever I have discussed is all about RedHat configuration. CPU utilization is high whether it is RedHat or Ubuntu. I have tried by using one sample conf file.

Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/30 "2018-05-27T12:48:00Z")

</div>

> When I am running conf file from /usr/share/logstash/bin directory then there is no permission error and I am running same conf file.

But then you're running Logstash as yourself or as root, but when you run Logstash via systemd or similar Logstash is running as the logstash user, which presumably doesn't have access to that directory.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 7:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/31 "2018-05-28T07:02:47Z")

</div>

Hey Magnusbaeck,

I have tried your suggestion by giving chmod 777 to /var/log/httpd/ files to make it executable. But my conf file is not continuously running once I closed their terminal pipelining and CPU usage is still going high.

Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 7:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/32 "2018-05-28T07:16:15Z")

</div>

**Do not make the log files _writable_ for everyone.**

> But my conf file is not continuously running once I closed their terminal pipelining

I don't understand what you mean.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 8:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/33 "2018-05-28T08:49:00Z")

</div>

Thank you so much Magnus.  
I honestly appreciate your help.

As you said, keep one conf file in /etc/logstash/conf.d directory, so logstash will run this logstash.conf file automatically as a service. This will also reduce CPU utilization. By using your suggestion I have kept one conf file in /etc/logstash/conf.d directory but still this conf file is not running continuously and CPU usage is still high.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/34 "2018-05-28T09:53:09Z")

</div>

> this conf file is not running continuously

What do you mean? Is Logstash still in a crash loop?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/35 "2018-05-28T09:56:09Z")

</div>

yes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 9:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/36 "2018-05-28T09:58:00Z")

</div>

Then why is it crashing? Read the logs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 10:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/37 "2018-05-28T10:04:56Z")

</div>

Logstash log?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 11:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/38 "2018-05-28T11:54:19Z")

</div>

Yes!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mamta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@mamta](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mamta)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/39 "2018-05-28T12:03:16Z")

</div>

I have checked logstash log but still getting glob is empty but I am able to see Apache error log on kibana. I don't know how to check whether the server is crashing or not.  
Can you please simplify it?

 ![logstash_error](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/5/8/58719d6c874589254da9a618d5817ec182354ecd.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 12:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727/40 "2018-05-28T12:15:33Z")

</div>

I give up. I don't have time for talking in circles like this. Start by solving the `glob is: []` problem. I still don't think the file permissions are correct. Check the permissions of the /var/log/httpd directory.

[Previous page](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727.md?page=1)

[Next page](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-cpu-utilization-is-high/132727.md?page=3)