# Logstash not starting on Ubuntu
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [January 12, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002 "2016-01-12T15:51:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Devnull](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Devnull)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002/1 "2016-01-12T15:51:32Z")
Hi,
Have installed Logstash from _deb [http://packages.elastic.co/logstash/2.1/debian](http://packages.elastic.co/logstash/2.1/debian) stable main_.
I have also created a very simple config file :
`input { file { path => "/tmp/test" start_position => beginning } } output { stdout {} }`
If I launch logstash manually from the command line, it runs fine and the config operates as expected.
However if I try _service start logstash_, it doesn't run, no errors (or anything else) is logged, no process running. Only a pid file is created, but again, no process matching it.
Even if I delete the config file and try to start logstash through init with no config, again, nothing logged, no process running.
DISTRIB\_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB\_RELEASE=14.04
DISTRIB\_CODENAME=trusty
DISTRIB\_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS"
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### Author:  [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002/2 "2016-01-12T18:40:57Z")
Nothing in /var/log/logstash either? Which JVM?
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### Author:  [@Devnull](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Devnull)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2016, 12:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002/3 "2016-01-13T12:02:43Z")
Not a thing.
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0\_66-b17)
However, after resorting to a strace session, I eventually fixed it by tweaking the init file a bit. Can't remember what I did exactly, but if I get a chance, I'll go back and check.
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### Author:  [@lllama](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lllama)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002/4 "2016-01-28T16:31:53Z")
I'm having the same issue - `service logstash start` creates a PID file but nothing ends up running.
@Devnull if you can remember what tweaks you made to what file, then that would be really useful.
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### Author:  [@lllama](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lllama)
#### Post date: [January 28, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002/5 "2016-01-28T17:17:51Z")
Quick follow up - my issue was that the /var/log/logstash directory was owned by a non-logstash user (due to a previous install of other software) and so the service was failing when it couldn't open the log file. Changing the owner of all of the files fixed the issue.
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-not-starting-on-ubuntu/39002/6 "2017-07-06T05:13:56Z")