# Logstash-forwarder documentaion

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [December 9, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759 "2015-12-09T15:34:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NiteshBarnwal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e495f1/32.png) [@NiteshBarnwal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/NiteshBarnwal)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759/1 "2015-12-09T15:35:00Z")

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Hi Team,

Is there any document for setting up logstash-forwarder ?

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**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:** [December 9, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759/2 "2015-12-09T18:00:16Z")

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Well, there's the [project's README file](https://github.com/elastic/logstash-forwarder/blob/master/README.md), which should include most things you need to know. That file also tells you that logstash-forwarder is deprecated and replaced by [Filebeat](https://github.com/elastic/logstash-forwarder/blob/master/README.mdhttps://github.com/elastic/beats/tree/master/filebeat). So, use Filebeat instead.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NiteshBarnwal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e495f1/32.png) [@NiteshBarnwal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/NiteshBarnwal)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759/4 "2015-12-10T06:54:29Z")

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At this time i am going with logstash-forwarder and will move to filefeat later. I have few queries can you help?

1. If I am right logstash-forwarder will push the log to the ELK hosted server. What would be the path in ELK server where the logs will be pushed from logstash-forwarder. As I understand that we need to configure the log path with grok filter in logstash.conf

2. What is the difference and relation among Filebeat, Libbeat, Packetbeat and Topbeat?

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<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:** [December 10, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759/5 "2015-12-10T06:57:20Z")

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1. logstash-forwarder will ship log events over the network directly to a Logstash instance, typically on another server. Unless you explicitly configure Logstash to stream those logs on an on-disk file they will never be stored on disk.
2. Filebeat, Packetbeat, and Topbeat collect and ship different kinds of data and they all use libbeat as a library with common functionality.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NiteshBarnwal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e495f1/32.png) [@NiteshBarnwal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/NiteshBarnwal)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 7:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759/6 "2015-12-10T07:03:19Z")

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ok, then what would be the path in input section. I am little bit confused here.

> input {  
> file {  
> type =\> mobile\_messages  
> path =\> ["/installdir/ELK/LOGS/MOBILE/messages.log"]  
> start\_position =\> "beginning"  
> }  
> }

> filter {

> if [type] == "mobile\_messages" {  
> grok {  
> type =\> "mobile\_messages"

> ```
> match => ["message", "%{GREEDYDATA:server_name}; \/%{WORD:country_name}; %{DATESTAMP:datestamp}; %{WORD:LOB}; %{GREEDYDATA:gd1} (?:\[%{WORD:service_name}\]) %{GREEDYDATA:gd2}(?:\<StatusCode\>%{NUMBER:statuscode}\<\/StatusCode\>)(?:\<Severity\>%{WORD:severity}\<\/Severity\>)(?:\<StatusDesc\>%{GREEDYDATA:statusdesc}\<\/StatusDesc\>)%{GREEDYDATA:gd3}" ]
> 
> ```

> }

> }  
> if "\_grokparsefailure" in [tags] { drop {} }  
> }

> output {  
> elasticsearch {  
> cluster =\> "elasticsearch"  
> protocol =\> "http"  
> action =\> "index"  
> host =\> "100.x.x.x"  
> index =\> "mobile\_messages"  
> workers =\> 1  
> }  
> stdout {  
> codec =\> json  
> }  
> }

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<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:** [December 10, 2015, 7:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759/7 "2015-12-10T07:07:15Z")

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Don't use a file input, use a lumberjack input (or a beats input if using filebeat). See [https://github.com/elastic/logstash-forwarder#use-with-logstash](https://github.com/elastic/logstash-forwarder#use-with-logstash).

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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:** [July 6, 2017, 5:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-forwarder-documentaion/36759/8 "2017-07-06T05:19:10Z")

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