# The best logstash-to-logstash protocol **URL:** \ **Category:** Logstash\ **Created:** [June 1, 2018, 9:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-best-logstash-to-logstash-protocol/134184 "2018-06-01T09:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thepax](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/thepax/32/31835_2.png) [@thepax](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/thepax)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 9:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-best-logstash-to-logstash-protocol/134184/1 "2018-06-01T09:11:21Z")
Hello, I've got several regional logstash'es (beats, syslog, snmptrap, netflow inputs, persistent queue) which transfer data to a central logstash for processing. What is the best protocol for transferring structured data between logstash'es? json\_lines over TCP doesn't look like reliable since it doesn't ACK. Lumberjack does ACK, but doesn't support JSON. Beats is the best, but there is no logstash beats output. So what is the best logstash-to-logstash protocol? ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-best-logstash-to-logstash-protocol/134184/2 "2018-06-01T11:17:22Z")
Lumberjack supports JSON. That's the protocol I'd recommend, at least until someone writes a beats output. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-best-logstash-to-logstash-protocol/134184/3 "2018-06-29T11:17:29Z")
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