# Question about parsed files

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-about-parsed-files/349747>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [December 20, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-about-parsed-files/349747 "2023-12-20T18:35:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astateofmind](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/astateofmind/32/73905_2.png) [@astateofmind](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/astateofmind)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-about-parsed-files/349747/1 "2023-12-20T18:35:29Z")

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Quite simple:

If I configure a bunch of log files as paths and I apply that config to a diverse set of servers (so some servers will not have some of those log files) will that affect performance or anything?

Lets say I have a tomcat server and a rabbit server and I create a filbeat config that will be common for the 2 servers so I will configure both log files in that config.

What is filebeat doing if it doesn't find a file that was configured?

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**Author:** ![leandrojmp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/leandrojmp/32/107231_2.png) [@leandrojmp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/leandrojmp)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-about-parsed-files/349747/2 "2023-12-20T19:08:46Z")

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> [@astateofmind](#):
>
> What is filebeat doing if it doesn't find a file that was configured?

If a file is not present, then fielbeat will do nothing for that input, it will simple ignore it and wait until the file is created in the path, this has no impact in performance.

It is a pretty common use case.

For example, I had a use case on the past where I needed to collect logs from custom internal applications, but not all servers would have all the applications, so I used [externa configuration files](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/filebeat-configuration-reloading.html#filebeat-configuration-reloading) and deployed these files in all the servers.

If an application and its log exist in the server, filebeat would collect it.

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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:** [January 17, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-about-parsed-files/349747/3 "2024-01-17T21:08:54Z")

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