# Logstash - Error at startup - Cannot determine timezone from nil
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-at-startup-cannot-determine-timezone-from-nil/378533
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [May 26, 2025, 9:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-at-startup-cannot-determine-timezone-from-nil/378533 "2025-05-26T09:28:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@markus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/markus)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2025, 9:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-at-startup-cannot-determine-timezone-from-nil/378533/1 "2025-05-26T09:28:53Z")
Hi,
I've stumbled upon a problem with my Logstash config. As soon as I use the translate filter Logstash refuses to start.
I use the following minimal config to reproduce the issue:
```auto
input {
stdin { }
}
filter {
mutate {
add_field => { "foo" => "bar" }
}
translate {
source => "[foo]"
target => "[foo_txt]"
dictionary => {
"foo" => "bar"
"foo2" => "bar2"
}
fallback => "unkownMapping"
}
}
output {
stdout {}
}
```
Logstash version is: 8.13.4
OS is Windows (Server 2025 or Win11)
Logstash start command:
```auto
logstash -f minimal.conf
```
Timezone settings on my machine with tzutil /g is W. Europe Standard Time
I get the following error (linebreaks added for readability):
```auto
{:action=>LogStash::PipelineAction::Create/pipeline_id:main,
:exception=>"Java::JavaLang::IllegalStateException",
:message=>"Unable to configure plugins: (ArgumentError) Cannot determine timezone from nil
(secs:1748251030.098,utc~:\"2025-05-26 09:17:10.09800004959106445\",ltz~:nil)
(etz:nil,tnz:\"MESZ\",tziv:\"2.0.6\",tzidv:\"1.2024.1\",rv:\"3.1.4\",rp:\"java\",win:true,rorv:nil,astz:nil,eov:\"1.2.11\",eotnz:\"???\",eotnfz:\"???\",eotlzn:\"???\",
debian:nil,centos:nil,osx:nil)
Try setting `ENV['TZ'] = 'Continent/City'` in your script (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones)",
:backtrace=>["org.logstash.config.ir.CompiledPipeline.(CompiledPipeline.java:120)",
"org.logstash.execution.AbstractPipelineExt.initialize(AbstractPipelineExt.java:186)",
"org.logstash.execution.AbstractPipelineExt$INVOKER$i$initialize.call(AbstractPipelineExt$INVOKER$i$initialize.gen)",
"org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.JavaMethod$JavaMethodN.call(JavaMethod.java:847)",
"org.jruby.ir.runtime.IRRuntimeHelpers.instanceSuper(IRRuntimeHelpers.java:1319)",
"org.jruby.ir.instructions.InstanceSuperInstr.interpret(InstanceSuperInstr.java:139)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.processCall(InterpreterEngine.java:367)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.StartupInterpreterEngine.interpret(StartupInterpreterEngine.java:66)",
"org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.INTERPRET_METHOD(MixedModeIRMethod.java:128)",
"org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.call(MixedModeIRMethod.java:115)",
"org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:446)",
"org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:92)",
"org.jruby.RubyClass.newInstance(RubyClass.java:931)",
"org.jruby.RubyClass$INVOKER$i$newInstance.call(RubyClass$INVOKER$i$newInstance.gen)",
"org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:446)",
"org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:92)",
"org.jruby.ir.instructions.CallBase.interpret(CallBase.java:548)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.processCall(InterpreterEngine.java:367)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.StartupInterpreterEngine.interpret(StartupInterpreterEngine.java:66)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.interpret(InterpreterEngine.java:88)",
"org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.INTERPRET_METHOD(MixedModeIRMethod.java:238)",
"org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.call(MixedModeIRMethod.java:225)",
"org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.DynamicMethod.call(DynamicMethod.java:228)",
"org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:476)",
"org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:293)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.processCall(InterpreterEngine.java:328)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.StartupInterpreterEngine.interpret(StartupInterpreterEngine.java:66)",
"org.jruby.ir.interpreter.Interpreter.INTERPRET_BLOCK(Interpreter.java:116)",
"org.jruby.runtime.MixedModeIRBlockBody.commonYieldPath(MixedModeIRBlockBody.java:136)",
"org.jruby.runtime.IRBlockBody.call(IRBlockBody.java:66)",
"org.jruby.runtime.IRBlockBody.call(IRBlockBody.java:58)",
"org.jruby.runtime.Block.call(Block.java:144)",
"org.jruby.RubyProc.call(RubyProc.java:352)",
"org.jruby.internal.runtime.RubyRunnable.run(RubyRunnable.java:111)",
"java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:840)"]}
```
If I remove the translate filter in the above config everything is working as expected. The error also occurs if I start Logstash to just check the config (with -t flag).
Any idea what is going wrong / what I'm missing?
---
### Author:  [@RainTown](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/RainTown)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2025, 9:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-at-startup-cannot-determine-timezone-from-nil/378533/2 "2025-05-26T09:40:30Z")
looks similar to:
>
>
> Logstash 8.6.0 Windows 10 bat, http\_poller 5.4.0
>
> when using http\_poller in my… conf like so:
>
> \`\`\`
> input {
> http\_poller {
> urls =\> {
> test1 =\> "remotehost:1234/my\_service/logfile"
> }
> codec =\> "json"
> }
> }
>
> output {
> stdout {
> codec =\> rubydebug
> }
> }
> \`\`\`
>
> i get:
>
> \`\[2023-01-16T16:47:07,654\]\[ERROR\]\[logstash.agent \] Failed to execute action {:action=\>LogStash::PipelineAction::Create/pipeline\_id:main, :exception=\>"Java::JavaLang::IllegalStateException", :message=\>"Unable to configure plugins: (ArgumentError) Cannot determine timezone from nil\\n(secs:1673884024.639,utc~:\\"2023-01-16 15:47:04.6389999389648438\\",ltz~:nil)\\n(etz:nil,tnz:\\"MEZ\\",tziv:\\"2.0.5\\",tzidv:\\"1.2022.6\\",rv:\\"2.6.8\\",rp:\\"java\\",win:true,rorv:nil,astz:nil,eov:\\"1.2.7\\",eotnz:\\"???\\",eotnfz:\\"???\\",eotlzn:\\"???\\",\\ndebian:nil,centos:nil,osx:nil)\\nTry setting \`ENV\['TZ'\] = 'Continent/City'\` in your script (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_tz\_database\_time\_zones)", :backtrace=\>\["org.logstash.config.ir.CompiledPipeline.\(CompiledPipeline.java:120)", "org.logstash.execution.AbstractPipelineExt.initialize(AbstractPipelineExt.java:181)", "org.logstash.execution.AbstractPipelineExt$INVOKER$i$initialize.call(AbstractPipelineExt$INVOKER$i$initialize.gen)", "org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.JavaMethod$JavaMethodN.call(JavaMethod.java:846)", "org.jruby.ir.runtime.IRRuntimeHelpers.instanceSuper(IRRuntimeHelpers.java:1229)", "org.jruby.ir.instructions.InstanceSuperInstr.interpret(InstanceSuperInstr.java:131)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.processCall(InterpreterEngine.java:361)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.StartupInterpreterEngine.interpret(StartupInterpreterEngine.java:72)", "org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.INTERPRET\_METHOD(MixedModeIRMethod.java:128)", "org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.call(MixedModeIRMethod.java:115)", "org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:329)", "org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:87)", "org.jruby.RubyClass.newInstance(RubyClass.java:911)", "org.jruby.RubyClass$INVOKER$i$newInstance.call(RubyClass$INVOKER$i$newInstance.gen)", "org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:329)", "org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:87)", "org.jruby.ir.instructions.CallBase.interpret(CallBase.java:549)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.processCall(InterpreterEngine.java:361)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.StartupInterpreterEngine.interpret(StartupInterpreterEngine.java:72)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.interpret(InterpreterEngine.java:92)", "org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.INTERPRET\_METHOD(MixedModeIRMethod.java:238)", "org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.MixedModeIRMethod.call(MixedModeIRMethod.java:225)", "org.jruby.internal.runtime.methods.DynamicMethod.call(DynamicMethod.java:226)", "org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.cacheAndCall(CachingCallSite.java:393)", "org.jruby.runtime.callsite.CachingCallSite.call(CachingCallSite.java:206)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.InterpreterEngine.processCall(InterpreterEngine.java:325)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.StartupInterpreterEngine.interpret(StartupInterpreterEngine.java:72)", "org.jruby.ir.interpreter.Interpreter.INTERPRET\_BLOCK(Interpreter.java:116)", "org.jruby.runtime.MixedModeIRBlockBody.commonYieldPath(MixedModeIRBlockBody.java:136)", "org.jruby.runtime.IRBlockBody.call(IRBlockBody.java:66)", "org.jruby.runtime.IRBlockBody.call(IRBlockBody.java:58)", "org.jruby.runtime.Block.call(Block.java:143)", "org.jruby.RubyProc.call(RubyProc.java:309)", "org.jruby.internal.runtime.RubyRunnable.run(RubyRunnable.java:107)", "java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:833)"\]}\`
>
> Am I doing something wrong? i tried setting the env var in the bat file (set ZT=Europe/Berlin), but it gave me error that my config is wrong. is this a bug maybe?
There:
Setting the **environment variable** TZ resolves this issue.
Have you that environment variable set ? If so, to what? "Europe/Berlin" or similar would seem appropriate.
---
### Author:  [@markus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/markus)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-at-startup-cannot-determine-timezone-from-nil/378533/3 "2025-05-27T13:39:12Z")
Hi,
thanks for your reply. I failed to related the other posts with this error message to my scenario as they all regarded the JDBC input whereas I'm using the translate filter.
What I don't understand however is that in our production setup Logstash runs as a windows service without the TZ env variable set and that seems to be working fine...
Any idea on why that is?
---
### Author:  [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-at-startup-cannot-determine-timezone-from-nil/378533/4 "2025-05-27T14:57:16Z")
> [@markus](#):
>
> :message=\>"Unable to configure plugins: (ArgumentError) Cannot determine timezone from nil
> (secs:1748251030.098,utc~:"2025-05-26 09:17:10.09800004959106445",ltz~:nil)
> (etz:nil,tnz:"MESZ"
Mid-european summer time is not one of the [time zone names that Joda understands](https://www.joda.org/joda-time/timezones.html), so, as the error message says, try setting `ENV['TZ'] = 'Continent/City'`. See [this](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/http-poller-timezone-is-not-being-recognized/358980/2) thread.
A translate filter has a schedule (refresh\_interval), so it needs to know what time the next refresh should occur.