# Logstash unable to run conf file in background?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [March 9, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633 "2020-03-09T03:14:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopilim96](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kopilim96/32/63260_2.png) [@kopilim96](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kopilim96)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/1 "2020-03-09T03:14:18Z")

</div>

Hi there, how can I run the logstash `.conf file` in background ?  
I am using Centos 6.9 and I installed logstash with rpm package.

file: /etc/logstash/logstash.yml

```auto
pipeline.id: logstash_for_nagios
path.config: "/etc/logstash/conf.d/nagios.conf"
pipeline.workers: 1

```

file: /etc/logstash/pipelines.yml

```auto
- pipeline.id: main
  path.config: "/etc/logstash/conf.d/nagios.conf"
  pipeline.worker: 2

```

and I set the user and group to `root`

file: /etc/logstash/startup.options

```auto
LS_USER=root
LS_GROUP=root

```

with the `ps aux | grep logstash` command. Below is the result:

```auto
[root@casrh6t logstash]# ps aux | grep logstash
logstash 32095 83.8 9.1 3088564 368480 ? SNsl 11:10 0:31 /usr/bin/java -Xms1g -Xmx1g -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=75 -XX:+UseCMSInitiatingOccupancyOnly -Djava.awt.headless=true -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Djruby.compile.invokedynamic=true -Djruby.jit.threshold=0 -Djruby.regexp.interruptible=true -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/urandom -Dlog4j2.isThreadContextMapInheritable=true -cp /usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/animal-sniffer-annotations-1.14.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/commons-codec-1.11.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/commons-compiler-3.0.11.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/error_prone_annotations-2.0.18.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/google-java-format-1.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/gradle-license-report-0.7.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/guava-22.0.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/j2objc-annotations-1.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/jackson-annotations-2.9.10.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/jackson-core-2.9.10.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/jackson-databind-2.9.10.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/jackson-dataformat-cbor-2.9.10.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/janino-3.0.11.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/javassist-3.24.0-GA.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/jruby-complete-9.2.8.0.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/jsr305-1.3.9.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/log4j-api-2.11.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/log4j-core-2.11.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/log4j-slf4j-impl-2.11.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/logstash-core.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.core.commands-3.6.0.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.core.contenttype-3.4.100.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.core.expressions-3.4.300.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.core.filesystem-1.3.100.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.core.jobs-3.5.100.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.core.resources-3.7.100.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.core.runtime-3.7.0.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.equinox.app-1.3.100.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.equinox.common-3.6.0.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.equinox.preferences-3.4.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.equinox.registry-3.5.101.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.jdt.core-3.10.0.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.osgi-3.7.1.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/org.eclipse.text-3.5.101.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/reflections-0.9.11.jar:/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/jars/slf4j-api-1.7.25.jar org.logstash.Logstash --path.settings /etc/logstash
root 32647 0.0 0.0 103332 892 pts/3 S+ 11:10 0:00 grep logstash
[root@casrh6t logstash]#

```

and my `/etc/logstash/conf.d/nagios.conf` file which I want to run forever in the background

```auto
input {
  file {
    path => ["/usr/local/nagios/var/nagios.log"]
    start_position => "beginning"
    sincedb_path => "/dev/null"
  }
}
filter {
// FILTERING
}
output {
  elasticsearch {
    hosts => ["http://10.61.35.162:9200/"]
    index => "test-nagios"
  }
  stdout { codec => rubydebug }
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 3:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/2 "2020-03-09T03:31:04Z")

</div>

What do the Logstash logs show?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopilim96](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kopilim96/32/63260_2.png) [@kopilim96](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kopilim96)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/3 "2020-03-09T04:00:22Z")

</div>

sorry. Where is log file located at ??

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopilim96](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kopilim96/32/63260_2.png) [@kopilim96](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kopilim96)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 4:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/4 "2020-03-09T04:08:16Z")

</div>

Sorry I found my log file located and here is the latest log msg.

[2020-03-09T12:06:56,915][FATAL][logstash.runner] An unexpected error occurred! {:error=\>#\<ArgumentError: Path "/var/lib/logstash/queue" must be a writable directory. It is not writable.\>, :backtrace=\>["/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/logstash/settings.rb:489:in `validate'", "/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/logstash/settings.rb:271:in `validate\_value'", "/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/logstash/settings.rb:182:in `block in validate_all'", "org/jruby/RubyHash.java:1417:in `each'", "/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/logstash/settings.rb:181:in `validate_all'", "/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/logstash/runner.rb:284:in `execute'", "/usr/share/logstash/vendor/bundle/jruby/2.5.0/gems/clamp-0.6.5/lib/clamp/command.rb:67:in `run'", "/usr/share/logstash/logstash-core/lib/logstash/runner.rb:242:in `run'", "/usr/share/logstash/vendor/bundle/jruby/2.5.0/gems/clamp-0.6.5/lib/clamp/command.rb:132:in `run'", "/usr/share/logstash/lib/bootstrap/environment.rb:73:in `'"]}  
[2020-03-09T12:06:57,341][ERROR][org.logstash.Logstash] java.lang.IllegalStateException: Logstash stopped processing because of an error: (SystemExit) exit

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopilim96](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kopilim96/32/63260_2.png) [@kopilim96](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kopilim96)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/5 "2020-03-09T04:20:35Z")

</div>

I have tried `/usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash -f /etc/logstash/conf.d/nagios.conf &` command but it does not work once I closed the terminal.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ITIC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@ITIC](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ITIC)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 10:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/6 "2020-03-09T10:16:11Z")

</div>

Hi

This might be an issue:

> [@kopilim96](#):
>
> \<ArgumentError: Path "/var/lib/logstash/queue" must be a writable directory. It is not writable.\>

Do you run logstash as root?

Hope this helps.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopilim96](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kopilim96/32/63260_2.png) [@kopilim96](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kopilim96)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 11:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/7 "2020-03-09T11:56:34Z")

</div>

Yes.. I run logstash as root.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopilim96](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kopilim96/32/63260_2.png) [@kopilim96](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kopilim96)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/8 "2020-03-10T02:11:39Z")

</div>

Up.. I still need help.

Followed from [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/running-logstash.html#running-logstash-upstart](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/running-logstash.html#running-logstash-upstart)

but it does not work too.

---

<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:** [April 7, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/logstash-unable-to-run-conf-file-in-background/222633/9 "2020-04-07T02:11:46Z")

</div>

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