# "no external input files" when trying to run the nginx elastic agent tutorial

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/no-external-input-files-when-trying-to-run-the-nginx-elastic-agent-tutorial/378066>\
**Category:** Elastic Agent\
**Created:** [May 12, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/no-external-input-files-when-trying-to-run-the-nginx-elastic-agent-tutorial/378066 "2025-05-12T22:38:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wpm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wpm/32/110146_2.png) [@wpm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wpm)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/no-external-input-files-when-trying-to-run-the-nginx-elastic-agent-tutorial/378066/1 "2025-05-12T22:38:12Z")

</div>

I am following [Example: Use standalone Elastic Agent with Elastic Cloud Serverless to monitor nginx](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/fleet/example-standalone-monitor-nginx-serverless#nginx-guide-create-api-key-serverless). I am stuck at [Step 6: Configure standalone Elastic Agent](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/fleet/example-standalone-monitor-nginx-serverless#nginx-guide-configure-standalone-agent-serverless).

I have created an API key, an Elastic Agent policy, and added the NGINX Integration to the policy. My NGINX is in a container running Linux. I created a Dockerfile using the Elastic Agent install instructions for Linux that I got from the Add Agent UI.

```Dockerfile
FROM nginx

COPY elastic-agent.yml /etc/elastic-agent/elastic-agent.yml

RUN curl -L -O https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/beats/elastic-agent/elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64.tar.gz \
  && tar xzvf elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64.tar.gz \
  && cd elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64 \
  && ./elastic-agent install

```

Note that I removed from `sudo` command from `./elastic-agent install` because `sudo` is not available on this image. However, I am the `root` user in the container so I don't think this is a problem.

The `elastic-agent.yml` file is the one I downloaded while creating the policy. It contains the `api_key` that I generated for this project. I verified that it was copied into the container.

When I run `./elastic-agent install` I see the following error.

```auto
Elastic Agent will be installed at /opt/Elastic/Agent and will run as a service. Do you want to continue? [Y/n]:Y
Do you want to enroll this Agent into Fleet? [Y/n]:n
[==] Start Service failed, exiting... [1s] Installation failed to start 'elastic-agent' service.
[===] Uninstalled [1s] Error uninstalling. Printing logs
2025-05-12T22:20:04.141Z DEBUG [install] Loaded configuration from /elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64/elastic-agent.yml
2025-05-12T22:20:04.141Z DEBUG [install] Merged configuration from /elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64/elastic-agent.yml into result
2025-05-12T22:20:04.141Z DEBUG [install] Merged all configuration files from [/elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64/elastic-agent.yml], no external input files
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install] Loaded configuration from /elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64/elastic-agent.yml
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install] Merged configuration from /elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64/elastic-agent.yml into result
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install] Merged all configuration files from [/elastic-agent-9.0.1-linux-arm64/elastic-agent.yml], no external input files
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install.composable] Starting controller for composable inputs
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install.composable] Started controller for composable inputs
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install.composable] Computing new variable state for composable inputs
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install.composable] Stopping controller for composable inputs
2025-05-12T22:20:04.182Z DEBUG [install.composable] Stopped controller for composable inputs
Error: error starting service: failed to start service (elastic-agent): exit status 1
For help, please see our troubleshooting guide at https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/fleet/9.0/fleet-troubleshooting.html

```

What does `no external input files` mean? How do I go about debugging this?