I can't reproduce that error:
$ cat test.config
input { stdin { } }
output { stdout { codec => rubydebug } }
filter {
date {
match => ["message", "MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss aa Z"]
}
}
$ echo 'Sep 19, 2015 10:16:36 PM HKT' | /opt/logstash/bin/logstash -f test.config
Settings: Default pipeline workers: 2
Pipeline main started
Failed parsing date from field {:field=>"message", :value=>"Sep 19, 2015 10:16:36 PM HKT", :exception=>"Invalid format: \"Sep 19, 2015 10:16:36 PM HKT\" is malformed at \"HKT\"", :config_parsers=>"MMM dd, yyyy HH:mm:ss aa Z", :config_locale=>"default=en_US", :level=>:warn}
{
"message" => "Sep 19, 2015 10:16:36 PM HKT",
"@version" => "1",
"@timestamp" => "2016-06-14T17:52:46.594Z",
"host" => "hallonet",
"tags" => [
[0] "_dateparsefailure"
]
}
Pipeline main has been shutdown
stopping pipeline {:id=>"main"}
However, as this example shows the date filter—as documented—isn't capable of parsing timezone names.