Directory layout

The directory layout of an installation is as follows:

Type	Description	Default Location	Config Option
home	Home of the Metricbeat installation.		`path.home`
bin	The location for the binary files.	`{path.home}/bin`
config	The location for configuration files.	`{path.home}`	`path.config`
data	The location for persistent data files.	`{path.home}/data`	`path.data`
logs	The location for the logs created by Metricbeat.	`{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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Metricbeat uses the following default paths unless you explicitly change them.

deb and rpm

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Type	Description	Location
home	Home of the Metricbeat installation.	`/usr/share/metricbeat`
bin	The location for the binary files.	`/usr/share/metricbeat/bin`
config	The location for configuration files.	`/etc/metricbeat`
data	The location for persistent data files.	`/var/lib/metricbeat`
logs	The location for the logs created by Metricbeat.	`/var/log/metricbeat`

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 Metricbeat service by using the preferred operating system method (init scripts or systemctl). Otherwise the paths might be set incorrectly.

docker

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Type	Description	Location
home	Home of the Metricbeat installation.	`/usr/share/metricbeat`
bin	The location for the binary files.	`/usr/share/metricbeat`
config	The location for configuration files.	`/usr/share/metricbeat`
data	The location for persistent data files.	`/usr/share/metricbeat/data`
logs	The location for the logs created by Metricbeat.	`/usr/share/metricbeat/logs`

zip, tar.gz, or tgz

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Type	Description	Location
home	Home of the Metricbeat installation.	`{extract.path}`
bin	The location for the binary files.	`{extract.path}`
config	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 Metricbeat.	`{extract.path}/logs`

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

./metricbeat

brew

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Type	Description	Location
home	Home of the Metricbeat installation.	`/usr/local/var/homebrew/linked/metricbeat-full`
bin	The location for the binary files.	`/usr/local/var/homebrew/linked/metricbeat-full/bin`
config	The location for configuration files.	`/usr/local/etc/metricbeat`
data	The location for persistent data files.	`/usr/local/var/lib/metricbeat`
logs	The location for the logs created by Metricbeat.	`/usr/local/var/log/metricbeat`

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