As per the docs "Packetbeat can run on the same servers as your application processes or on its own servers. When running on dedicated servers, Packetbeat can get the traffic from the switch’s mirror ports or from tapping devices" As per this blog https://blog.packet-foo.com/2014/05/the-drawbacks-of-local-packet-captures/ the author never recommends capture on local streams.
As packetbeat is published as a lightweight shipper of packet data, how lightweight it really is ?.