# What is the difference between peer and force\_peer

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-is-the-difference-between-peer-and-force-peer/64547>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [November 1, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-is-the-difference-between-peer-and-force-peer/64547 "2016-11-01T11:40:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![firslien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/74df32/32.png) [@firslien](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/firslien)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-is-the-difference-between-peer-and-force-peer/64547/1 "2016-11-01T11:40:21Z")

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logstash input settings, the document is described:

ssl\_verify\_mode

peer will make the server ask the client to provide a certificate, if the client provides a certificate it will be validated.

force\_peer will make the server ask the client to provide a certificate. If the client doesn’t provide a certificate, the connection will be closed.

What is the difference between peer and force\_peer

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**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:** [November 3, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-is-the-difference-between-peer-and-force-peer/64547/2 "2016-11-03T06:39:01Z")

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`force_peer` requires the client to provide a certificate while that's optional in the `peer` case. Provided certificates will be validated in both cases.

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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:** [July 6, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-is-the-difference-between-peer-and-force-peer/64547/3 "2017-07-06T04:31:23Z")

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