# Using environmnet variables for kafka output
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environmnet-variables-for-kafka-output/127073
**Category:** Beats
**Tags:** filebeat
**Created:** [April 6, 2018, 10:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environmnet-variables-for-kafka-output/127073 "2018-04-06T10:24:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mruthyu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mruthyu)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2018, 10:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environmnet-variables-for-kafka-output/127073/1 "2018-04-06T10:24:51Z")
Following configuration is not working.
```auto
output.kafka:
enabled: true
**hosts: ["${KAFKA_HOST_1}", "${KAFKA_HOST_2}", "${KAFKA_HOST_3}"]**
topic: ${KAFKA_TOPIC_NAME}
```
///
Environment variables set as
export KAFKA\_HOST\_1="[host1.xxxxx.com:9092](http://host1.xxxxx.com:9092)"
export KAFKA\_HOST\_2="[host2.xxxxx.com:9092](http://host2.xxxxx.com:9092)"
export KAFKA\_HOST\_3="[host3.xxxxx.com:9092](http://host3.xxxxx.com:9092)"
///
---
### Author:  [@ruflin](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ruflin)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environmnet-variables-for-kafka-output/127073/2 "2018-04-06T13:00:43Z")
How do you start the beat? Which version of filebeat are you using?
Is the same user running the beat as where you have set the env variables?
In you post above you have ``\*\*` stars before and after the config, I assume that is for bold and not in the config itself?
Note: I reformatted your post above to make the config more readable.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-environmnet-variables-for-kafka-output/127073/3 "2018-05-04T13:00:57Z")
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