# Systemctl start filebeat does not start filebeat **URL:** \ **Category:** Beats\ **Created:** [March 13, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330 "2017-03-13T12:07:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@tomer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tomer)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330/1 "2017-03-13T12:07:32Z")
after changing some configuration (I added json.message\_key: message json.keys\_under\_root: true ) and doing restart to filebeat, filebeat refuses to start with nothing showing on the logs... ---
**Author:** ![tomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@tomer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tomer)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330/2 "2017-03-13T12:09:09Z")
Problem was solved (somehow it just started after about an half an hour of retries) ---
**Author:** ![andrewkroh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/andrewkroh/32/3784_2.png) [@andrewkroh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/andrewkroh)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330/3 "2017-03-16T15:09:09Z")
When changing config it is useful to run the config test with: `filebeat.sh -e -configtest` And when dealing with failures you can run Filebeat in the foreground to see all log output: `filebeat.sh -e -d "*"` (-d "\*" enables debug logging) ---
**Author:** ![tomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@tomer](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tomer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330/4 "2017-03-19T16:44:59Z")
Thanks @andrewkroh, this will help me in future configuration! By any chance do you know if logstash has a feature such as: [filebeat.sh](http://filebeat.sh) -e -configtest (I tried [logstash.sh](http://logstash.sh) -e -configtest but with no success) ---
**Author:** ![andrewkroh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/andrewkroh/32/3784_2.png) [@andrewkroh](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/andrewkroh)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330/5 "2017-03-19T16:58:25Z")
I think the equivalent for LS is `/usr/share/logstash/bin/logstash --configtest -f ` ---
**Author:** ![dedemorton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dedemorton/32/84409_2.png) [@dedemorton](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dedemorton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330/6 "2017-03-20T01:58:10Z")
Note that starting with Logstash 5.0, the `--configtest` option was renamed to `--config.test_and_exit`. So the command for testing the config file with version 5.0 and later would look something like this: `path/to/bin/logstash -f configfile --config.test_and_exit` See [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/running-logstash-command-line.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/running-logstash-command-line.html) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/systemctl-start-filebeat-does-not-start-filebeat/78330/7 "2017-04-03T12:07:37Z")
This topic was automatically closed after 21 days. New replies are no longer allowed.