# Logstash ERROR: Unable to retrieve license information from license server {:message=\>"Unrecognized SSL message, plaintext connection?"}

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-unable-to-retrieve-license-information-from-license-server-message-unrecognized-ssl-message-plaintext-connection/195219
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [August 14, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-unable-to-retrieve-license-information-from-license-server-message-unrecognized-ssl-message-plaintext-connection/195219 "2019-08-14T14:23:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![daniele.saccon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@daniele.saccon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/daniele.saccon)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-unable-to-retrieve-license-information-from-license-server-message-unrecognized-ssl-message-plaintext-connection/195219/1 "2019-08-14T14:23:29Z")

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Hi,

I have a cluster consisting of 3 nodes and an installation of kibana and logstash, all to version 6.8.1.

I followed the procedure to configure SSL, TLS and HTTPS certificates:

> **[Configuring SSL, TLS, and HTTPS to secure Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and...](https://www.elastic.co/blog/configuring-ssl-tls-and-https-to-secure-elasticsearch-kibana-beats-and-logstash)**
>
> Feeling insecure about your Elastic Stack security? Run through these step-by-step instructions for setting up TLS encryption and https on Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash, and Beats to shore up your stack's defenses. Highly recommended for end-to-end...

The Elasticsearch nodes are working, Kibana is working, Logstash has this error at startup:

**[ERROR][logstash.licensechecker.licensereader] Unable to retrieve license information from license server {:message=\>"Unrecognized SSL message, plaintext connection?"}  
[ERROR][logstash.monitoring.internalpipelinesource] Failed to fetch X-Pack information from Elasticsearch. This is likely due to failure to reach a live Elasticsearch cluster.**

Can you help me?

Thanks

Daniele

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![rugenl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rugenl/32/12887_2.png) [@rugenl](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rugenl)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-unable-to-retrieve-license-information-from-license-server-message-unrecognized-ssl-message-plaintext-connection/195219/2 "2019-08-14T18:03:25Z")

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Do you have xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch.hosts set with https:// prefix and the necessary ssl.certificate\_authority files?

It may help to post your logstash.yml config (format with \</\>)

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![daniele.saccon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@daniele.saccon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/daniele.saccon)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2019, 8:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-unable-to-retrieve-license-information-from-license-server-message-unrecognized-ssl-message-plaintext-connection/195219/3 "2019-09-05T08:50:22Z")

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Hi @rugenl,

My configuration file is:

`
node.name: node1-logstash
path.data: /var/lib/logstash
path.logs: /var/log/logstash
xpack.monitoring.enabled: true
xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch.hosts: ["https://node1:81","https://node2:81","https://node3:81"]
xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch.username: logstash_system
xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch.password: logstashpassword
xpack.monitoring.elasticsearch.ssl.certificate_authority: /etc/logstash/certs/ca.crt
`

Thanks

Daniele

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<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: [October 3, 2019, 8:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-error-unable-to-retrieve-license-information-from-license-server-message-unrecognized-ssl-message-plaintext-connection/195219/4 "2019-10-03T08:50:25Z")

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