filebeat Installation Guide Installation Guide

filebeat is a free and open-source log shipper. Filebeat provides lightweight shipper for forwarding logs

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for data

Network: Various outputs

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 5066 (default filebeat port)

None

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install filebeat
sudo dnf install -y filebeat

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now filebeat

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5066/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install filebeat
sudo apt install -y filebeat

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now filebeat

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 5066

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Install filebeat
sudo pacman -S filebeat

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now filebeat

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Install filebeat
apk add --no-cache filebeat

# Enable and start service
rc-update add filebeat default
rc-service filebeat start

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Install filebeat
sudo zypper install -y filebeat

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now filebeat

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5066/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install filebeat

# Start service
brew services start filebeat

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install filebeat

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'filebeat_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service filebeat start

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install filebeat

# Or using Scoop
scoop install filebeat

# Verify installation
filebeat --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/filebeat

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
filebeat --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable filebeat

# Start service
sudo systemctl start filebeat

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop filebeat

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart filebeat

# Check status
sudo systemctl status filebeat

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u filebeat -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add filebeat default

# Start service
rc-service filebeat start

# Stop service
rc-service filebeat stop

# Restart service
rc-service filebeat restart

# Check status
rc-service filebeat status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'filebeat_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service filebeat start

# Stop service
service filebeat stop

# Restart service
service filebeat restart

# Check status
service filebeat status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start filebeat
brew services stop filebeat
brew services restart filebeat

# Check status
brew services list | grep filebeat

powershell

# Start service
net start filebeat

# Stop service
net stop filebeat

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service filebeat
Stop-Service filebeat
Restart-Service filebeat

# Check status
Get-Service filebeat

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream filebeat_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:5066;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name filebeat.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name filebeat.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/filebeat.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/filebeat.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://filebeat_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName filebeat.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://filebeat.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName filebeat.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/filebeat.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/filebeat.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:5066/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:5066/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend filebeat_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/filebeat.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend filebeat_backend

backend filebeat_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server filebeat1 127.0.0.1:5066 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R filebeat:filebeat /etc/filebeat
sudo chmod 750 /etc/filebeat

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5066/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status filebeat

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u filebeat -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep filebeat)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/filebeat"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/filebeat-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/filebeat /var/lib/filebeat

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/filebeat-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop filebeat

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/filebeat/filebeat-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start filebeat

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u filebeat -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/filebeat/filebeat.log

# Check configuration
filebeat --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/filebeat

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 5066

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 5066

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep filebeat)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep filebeat)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 5066

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  filebeat:
    image: filebeat:latest
    ports:
      - "5066:5066"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/filebeat
      - ./data:/var/lib/filebeat
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update filebeat

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade filebeat

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu filebeat

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade filebeat

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update filebeat

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade filebeat

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/filebeat-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/filebeat

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart filebeat

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/filebeat

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/filebeat -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/filebeat

Official Documentation: https://docs.filebeat.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/filebeat/filebeat

Community Forum: https://forum.filebeat.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.filebeat.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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