# Logstash service failing on start up on Ubuntu 16.04

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-service-failing-on-start-up-on-ubuntu-16-04/157008>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [November 16, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-service-failing-on-start-up-on-ubuntu-16-04/157008 "2018-11-16T08:22:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ishanip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f14d63/32.png) [@ishanip](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ishanip)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-service-failing-on-start-up-on-ubuntu-16-04/157008/1 "2018-11-16T08:22:31Z")

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I am able to run logstash through the command line but when I run it as a service using sudo systemctl start logstash.service, logstash keeps on crashing and I get the following error-

Nov 16 07:59:24 nodename-0 logstash[19009]: ERROR: Failed to load settings file from "path.settings". Aborting... path.setting=/etc/logstash, exception=Java::OrgLogstashSecretStore::SecretStoreException::LoadException, message=\>Found a file at /etc/logstash/logstash.keystore, but it is not a valid Logstash keystore.  
Nov 16 07:59:25 nodename-0 logstash[19009]: [ERROR] 2018-11-16 07:59:25.012 [main] Logstash - java.lang.IllegalStateException: Logstash stopped processing because of an error: (SystemExit) exit  
Nov 16 07:59:25 nodename-0 systemd[1]: logstash.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE  
Nov 16 07:59:25 nodename-0 systemd[1]: logstash.service: Unit entered failed state.  
Nov 16 07:59:25 nodename-0 systemd[1]: logstash.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.  
Nov 16 07:59:25 nodename-0 systemd[1]: logstash.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.

I have my keystore set up with the password and I can list the keys successfully. Also, I have my /etc/logstash/logstash.yml at the correct location with correct permissions.

I am running Logstash with the following configuration-  
Distributor ID: Ubuntu  
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS  
Release: 16.04  
Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS  
Kernel: Linux 4.15.0-1031-azure  
java version "1.8.0\_191"  
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0\_191-b12)  
Logstash V6.4.2

Can someone help with a solution to this?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-service-failing-on-start-up-on-ubuntu-16-04/157008/2 "2018-12-14T08:22:44Z")

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