# Logstash is not generating log file

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [October 9, 2019, 12:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827 "2019-10-09T12:13:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Suresh\_Pal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/suresh_pal/32/31571_2.png) [@Suresh\_Pal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Suresh_Pal)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827/1 "2019-10-09T12:13:55Z")

</div>

Hi team,

My logstash is not generating log file.  
/var/log/logstash

Config 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:

# 

# 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: true

# 

# 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: debug  
path.logs: /var/log/logstash

# 

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

# 

# Where to find custom plugins

# path.plugins:

#

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827/2 "2019-10-09T13:56:23Z")

</div>

Please use [markdown](https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet) for your post.

Are you starting logstash on the command line? If so, what does it log?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Suresh\_Pal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/suresh_pal/32/31571_2.png) [@Suresh\_Pal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Suresh_Pal)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 6:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827/3 "2019-10-10T06:00:05Z")

</div>

yes , I'm starting service through command line as follows:

sudo /usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash -f /etc/logstash/conf.d/logstash-filter.conf --path.data=/var/lib/logstash

it started successfully and start parsing the logs but logs file is not generated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Suresh\_Pal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/suresh_pal/32/31571_2.png) [@Suresh\_Pal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Suresh_Pal)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 5:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827/4 "2019-10-11T05:17:29Z")

</div>

@Badger  
These are the logs that i'm getting while starting the service.

sudo /usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash -f /etc/logstash/conf.d/logstash-filter.conf --path.data=/var/lib/logstash &  
[1] 2844  
[ec2-user@PROD-LOGSTASH ~]$ WARNING: Could not find logstash.yml which is typically located in $LS\_HOME/config or /etc/logstash. You can specify the path using --path.settings. Continuing using the defaults  
Could not find log4j2 configuration at path /usr/share/logstash/config/log4j2.properties. Using default config which logs errors to the console  
[WARN] 2019-10-11 01:13:59.287 [LogStash::Runner] multilocal - Ignoring the 'pipelines.yml' file because modules or command line options are specified  
[INFO] 2019-10-11 01:13:59.302 [LogStash::Runner] runner - Starting Logstash {"logstash.version"=\>"6.8.1"}  
/usr/share/logstash/vendor/bundle/jruby/2.5.0/gems/logstash-output-amazon\_es-6.4.2-java/lib/logstash/outputs/amazon\_es/http\_client/pool.rb:33: warning: already initialized constant ROOT\_URI\_PATH  
/lib/bootstrap/environment.rb:6] agent - Pipelines running {:count=\>1, :running\_pipelines=\>[:main], :non\_running\_pipelines=\>}  
[INFO] 2019-10-11 01:14:10.154 [[main]\<beats] Server - Starting server on port: 5044  
[INFO] 2019-10-11 01:14:10.446 [Api Webserver] agent - Successfully started Logstash API endpoint {:port=\>9605}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827/5 "2019-10-11T16:11:51Z")

</div>

> [@Suresh\_Pal](#):
>
> WARNING: Could not find logstash.yml which is typically located in $LS\_HOME/config or /etc/logstash. You can specify the path using --path.settings. Continuing using the defaults  
> Could not find log4j2 configuration at path /usr/share/logstash/config/log4j2.properties. Using default config which logs errors to the console

OK, so it cannot find logstash.yml, so none of your configuration in that file has any effect, and it cannot find the log4j configuration so by default it only logs to the console. What does 'ls -l /etc/logstash' look like?

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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:** [November 8, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-is-not-generating-log-file/202827/6 "2019-11-08T16:12:07Z")

</div>

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