Directory Layout

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The directory layout of an installation is as follows:

Type Description Default Location Config Option

home

Home of the Filebeat installation.

path.home

bin

The location for the binary files.

{path.home}

conf

The location for configuration files.

{path.home}

path.conf

data

The location for persistent data files.

{path.home}/data

path.data

logs

The location for the logs created by Filebeat.

{path.home}/logs

path.logs

You can change these settings by using CLI flags or setting path options in the configuration file.

Default paths

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Filebeat uses the following default paths unless you explicitly change them.

deb and rpm
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Type Description Location

home

Home of the Filebeat installation.

/usr/share/filebeat

bin

The location for the binary files.

/usr/share/filebeat

conf

The location for configuration files.

/etc/filebeat

data

The location for persistent data files.

/var/lib/filebeat

logs

The location for the logs created by Filebeat.

/var/log/filebeat

For the deb and rpm distributions, these paths are set in the init script or in the systemd unit file. Make sure that you start the Filebeat service by using the preferred operating system method (init scripts or systemctl). Otherwise the paths might be set incorrectly.

zip, tar.gz, and tgz
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Type Description Location

home

Home of the Filebeat installation.

{extract.path}

bin

The location for the binary files.

{extract.path}

conf

The location for configuration files.

{extract.path}

data

The location for persistent data files.

{extract.path}/data

logs

The location for the logs created by Filebeat.

{extract.path}/logs

For the zip, tar.gz and tgz distributions, these paths are based on the location of the extracted binary file. This means that if you start Filebeat with the following simple command, all paths are set correctly:

./filebeat