# Unable to start filebeat for apache logs

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** filebeat\
**Created:** [March 23, 2021, 12:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094 "2021-03-23T12:33:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shriram\_Wasule](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shriram_wasule/32/75468_2.png) [@Shriram\_Wasule](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shriram_Wasule)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/1 "2021-03-23T12:33:54Z")

</div>

i am not able to get solution for error saying "Exiting: Failed to start crawler: creating module reloader failed: 1 error: invalid config: yaml: line 13: could not fin  
d expected ':'"  
following is my `apache.yml` file

```auto
# Module: apache
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/7.11/filebeat-module-apache.html

- module: apache
  # Access logs
  access:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    var.paths:["E:\hacking software install folder\xampp\apache\logs\access.txt"]  
  #Error logs
  error:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    var.paths:["E:\hacking software install folder\xampp\apache\logs\error.txt"]

```

i am not able to understand whats wrong in this file? i checked : is there wherever it is required, please help me this

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/2 "2021-03-23T12:57:21Z")

</div>

My guess is about spaces in `hacking software install folder`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shriram\_Wasule](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shriram_wasule/32/75468_2.png) [@Shriram\_Wasule](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shriram_Wasule)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 5:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/3 "2021-03-24T05:16:14Z")

</div>

are you sure? because i tried for my postgresql logs to it doesn't had this path simple c drive path is there but still getting this error  
postgresql.yml file

# Module: postgresql

# Docs: [PostgreSQL module | Filebeat Reference [7.11] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/7.11/filebeat-module-postgresql.html)

- module: postgresql

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 5:35am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/4 "2021-03-24T05:35:48Z")

</div>

Are you sure it is in the apache.yml it could be your filebeat.yml did you take a look there at line 13?

Please format your code

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shriram\_Wasule](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shriram_wasule/32/75468_2.png) [@Shriram\_Wasule](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shriram_Wasule)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 5:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/5 "2021-03-24T05:42:39Z")

</div>

i did checked filebeat.yml too , but there is nothing on line 12 & on 13 there is just comment

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 5:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/6 "2021-03-24T05:52:12Z")

</div>

Can you provide your whole startup log ... sometimes there is more there.

Perhaps share your filebeat.yml ... anyways, After all you a looking for help. We can't help without logs and configs.

If you don't see anything You can also start with below which will be much more verbose logging

filebeat -e -d

Also can you try a space after the `var.paths:` before the `[`

`var.paths: ["E:\hacking software install folder\xampp\apache\logs\access.txt"]`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shriram\_Wasule](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shriram_wasule/32/75468_2.png) [@Shriram\_Wasule](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shriram_Wasule)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 6:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/7 "2021-03-24T06:34:35Z")

</div>

i did tried to add spacing but getting error for that too stating 'Exiting: Failed to start crawler: creating module reloader failed: 1 error: invalid config: yaml: line 11: found unknown  
escape character'

filebeat.yml

```auto

# This file is an example configuration file highlighting only the most common
# options. The filebeat.reference.yml file from the same directory contains all the
# supported options with more comments. You can use it as a reference.
#
# You can find the full configuration reference here:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/index.html

# For more available modules and options, please see the filebeat.reference.yml sample
# configuration file.

# ============================== Filebeat inputs ===============================

filebeat.inputs:

# Each - is an input. Most options can be set at the input level, so
# you can use different inputs for various configurations.
# Below are the input specific configurations.

- type: log

# Change to true to enable this input configuration.
enabled: false

# Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
paths:
  - /var/log/*.log
  #- c:\programdata\elasticsearch\logs\*

# Exclude lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It drops the lines that are
# matching any regular expression from the list.
#exclude_lines: ['^DBG']

# Include lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It exports the lines that are
# matching any regular expression from the list.
#include_lines: ['^ERR', '^WARN']

# Exclude files. A list of regular expressions to match. Filebeat drops the files that
# are matching any regular expression from the list. By default, no files are dropped.
#exclude_files: ['.gz$']

# Optional additional fields. These fields can be freely picked
# to add additional information to the crawled log files for filtering
#fields:
# level: debug
# review: 1

### Multiline options

# Multiline can be used for log messages spanning multiple lines. This is common
# for Java Stack Traces or C-Line Continuation

# The regexp Pattern that has to be matched. The example pattern matches all lines starting with [
#multiline.pattern: ^\[

# Defines if the pattern set under pattern should be negated or not. Default is false.
#multiline.negate: false

# Match can be set to "after" or "before". It is used to define if lines should be append to a pattern
# that was (not) matched before or after or as long as a pattern is not matched based on negate.
# Note: After is the equivalent to previous and before is the equivalent to to next in Logstash
#multiline.match: after

# filestream is an experimental input. It is going to replace log input in the future.
- type: filestream

# Change to true to enable this input configuration.
enabled: false

# Paths that should be crawled and fetched. Glob based paths.
paths:
  - /var/log/*.log
  #- c:\programdata\elasticsearch\logs\*

# Exclude lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It drops the lines that are
# matching any regular expression from the list.
#exclude_lines: ['^DBG']

# Include lines. A list of regular expressions to match. It exports the lines that are
# matching any regular expression from the list.
#include_lines: ['^ERR', '^WARN']

# Exclude files. A list of regular expressions to match. Filebeat drops the files that
# are matching any regular expression from the list. By default, no files are dropped.
#prospector.scanner.exclude_files: ['.gz$']

# Optional additional fields. These fields can be freely picked
# to add additional information to the crawled log files for filtering
#fields:
# level: debug
# review: 1

# ============================== Filebeat modules ==============================

filebeat.config.modules:
# Glob pattern for configuration loading
path: ${path.config}/modules.d/*.yml

# Set to true to enable config reloading
reload.enabled: false

# Period on which files under path should be checked for changes
#reload.period: 10s

# ======================= Elasticsearch template setting =======================

setup.template.settings:
index.number_of_shards: 1
#index.codec: best_compression
#_source.enabled: false

# ================================== General ===================================

# The name of the shipper that publishes the network data. It can be used to group
# all the transactions sent by a single shipper in the web interface.
#name:

# The tags of the shipper are included in their own field with each
# transaction published.
#tags: ["service-X", "web-tier"]

# Optional fields that you can specify to add additional information to the
# output.
#fields:
# env: staging

# ================================= Dashboards =================================
# These settings control loading the sample dashboards to the Kibana index. Loading
# the dashboards is disabled by default and can be enabled either by setting the
# options here or by using the `setup` command.
#setup.dashboards.enabled: false

# The URL from where to download the dashboards archive. By default this URL
# has a value which is computed based on the Beat name and version. For released
# versions, this URL points to the dashboard archive on the artifacts.elastic.co
# website.
#setup.dashboards.url:

# =================================== Kibana ===================================

# Starting with Beats version 6.0.0, the dashboards are loaded via the Kibana API.
# This requires a Kibana endpoint configuration.
setup.kibana:

# Kibana Host
# Scheme and port can be left out and will be set to the default (http and 5601)
# In case you specify and additional path, the scheme is required: http://localhost:5601/path
# IPv6 addresses should always be defined as: https://[2001:db8::1]:5601
#host: "localhost:5601"

# Kibana Space ID
# ID of the Kibana Space into which the dashboards should be loaded. By default,
# the Default Space will be used.
#space.id:

# =============================== Elastic Cloud ================================

# These settings simplify using Filebeat with the Elastic Cloud (https://cloud.elastic.co/).

# The cloud.id setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.hosts` and
# `setup.kibana.host` options.
# You can find the `cloud.id` in the Elastic Cloud web UI.
#cloud.id:

# The cloud.auth setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.username` and
# `output.elasticsearch.password` settings. The format is `<user>:<pass>`.
#cloud.auth:

# ================================== Outputs ===================================

# Configure what output to use when sending the data collected by the beat.

# ---------------------------- Elasticsearch Output ----------------------------
output.elasticsearch:
# Array of hosts to connect to.
hosts: ["localhost:9200"]

# Protocol - either `http` (default) or `https`.
#protocol: "https"

# Authentication credentials - either API key or username/password.
#api_key: "id:api_key"
#username: "elastic"
#password: "changeme"

# ------------------------------ Logstash Output -------------------------------
#output.logstash:
# The Logstash hosts
#hosts: ["localhost:5044"]

# Optional SSL. By default is off.
# List of root certificates for HTTPS server verifications
#ssl.certificate_authorities: ["/etc/pki/root/ca.pem"]

# Certificate for SSL client authentication
#ssl.certificate: "/etc/pki/client/cert.pem"

# Client Certificate Key
#ssl.key: "/etc/pki/client/cert.key"

# ================================= Processors =================================
processors:
- add_host_metadata:
    when.not.contains.tags: forwarded
- add_cloud_metadata: ~
- add_docker_metadata: ~
- add_kubernetes_metadata: ~

# ================================== Logging ===================================

# Sets log level. The default log level is info.
# Available log levels are: error, warning, info, debug
#logging.level: debug

# At debug level, you can selectively enable logging only for some components.
# To enable all selectors use ["*"]. Examples of other selectors are "beat",
# "publisher", "service".
#logging.selectors: ["*"]

# ============================= X-Pack Monitoring ==============================
# Filebeat can export internal metrics to a central Elasticsearch monitoring
# cluster. This requires xpack monitoring to be enabled in Elasticsearch. The
# reporting is disabled by default.

# Set to true to enable the monitoring reporter.
#monitoring.enabled: false

# Sets the UUID of the Elasticsearch cluster under which monitoring data for this
# Filebeat instance will appear in the Stack Monitoring UI. If output.elasticsearch
# is enabled, the UUID is derived from the Elasticsearch cluster referenced by output.elasticsearch.
#monitoring.cluster_uuid:

# Uncomment to send the metrics to Elasticsearch. Most settings from the
# Elasticsearch output are accepted here as well.
# Note that the settings should point to your Elasticsearch *monitoring* cluster.
# Any setting that is not set is automatically inherited from the Elasticsearch
# output configuration, so if you have the Elasticsearch output configured such
# that it is pointing to your Elasticsearch monitoring cluster, you can simply
# uncomment the following line.
#monitoring.elasticsearch:

# ============================== Instrumentation ===============================

# Instrumentation support for the filebeat.
#instrumentation:
  # Set to true to enable instrumentation of filebeat.
  #enabled: false

  # Environment in which filebeat is running on (eg: staging, production, etc.)
  #environment: ""

  # APM Server hosts to report instrumentation results to.
  #hosts:
  # - http://localhost:8200

  # API Key for the APM Server(s).
  # If api_key is set then secret_token will be ignored.
  #api_key:

  # Secret token for the APM Server(s).
  #secret_token:

# ================================= Migration ==================================

# This allows to enable 6.7 migration aliases
#migration.6_to_7.enabled: true

```

apache.yml

```auto
# Docs: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/7.11/filebeat-module-apache.html

- module: apache
  # Access logs
  access:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    var.paths:["E:\hacking software install folder\xampp\apache\logs\access.log"]

  # Error logs
  error:
    enabled: true

    # Set custom paths for the log files. If left empty,
    # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
    var.paths:["E:\hacking software install folder\xampp\apache\logs\error.log"]

```

Please let me know the possible causes  
after removing spaces from between var.path and [ getting this error  
Exiting: Failed to start crawler: creating module reloader failed: 1 error: invalid config: yaml: line 13: could not fin  
d expected ':'

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/8 "2021-03-24T14:08:08Z")

</div>

Try single qoutes for the paths see [here](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/problem-with-filebeat-yml-file-on-windows/167154).

We should have remembered that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-start-filebeat-for-apache-logs/268094/9 "2021-04-21T14:08:26Z")

</div>

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