Step 3: Load the index template in Elasticsearch
editStep 3: Load the index template in Elasticsearch
editA connection to Elasticsearch is required to load the index template. If the output is not Elasticsearch, you must load the template manually.
In Elasticsearch, index templates are used to define settings and mappings that determine how fields should be analyzed.
The recommended index template file for Journalbeat is installed by the
Journalbeat packages. If you accept the default configuration in the
journalbeat.yml
config file, Journalbeat loads the template automatically
after successfully connecting to Elasticsearch. If the template already exists,
it’s not overwritten unless you configure Journalbeat to do so.
Configure template loading
editBy default, Journalbeat automatically loads the recommended template file,
fields.yml
, if the Elasticsearch output is enabled. If you want to use the
default index template, no additional configuration is required. Otherwise, you
can change the defaults in the journalbeat.yml
config file
to:
-
Load a different template
setup.template.name: "your_template_name" setup.template.fields: "path/to/fields.yml"
If the template already exists, it’s not overwritten unless you configure Journalbeat to do so.
-
Overwrite an existing template
setup.template.overwrite: true
-
Disable automatic template loading
setup.template.enabled: false
If you disable automatic template loading, you need to load the template manually.
-
Change the index name
If you’re sending events to a cluster that supports index lifecycle management, see Configure index lifecycle management to learn how to change the index name.
Journalbeat uses time series indices, by default, when index lifecycle management is disabled or unsupported. The indices are named
journalbeat-7.2.1-yyyy.MM.dd
, whereyyyy.MM.dd
is the date when the events were indexed. To use a different name, you set theindex
option in the Elasticsearch output. The value that you specify should include the root name of the index plus version and date information. You also need to configure thesetup.template.name
andsetup.template.pattern
options to match the new name. For example:output.elasticsearch.index: "customname-%{[agent.version]}-%{+yyyy.MM.dd}" setup.template.name: "customname" setup.template.pattern: "customname-*"
Remember to change the index name when you load dashboards via the Kibana UI.
See Load the Elasticsearch index template for the full list of configuration options.
Load the template manually
editTo load the template manually, run the setup
command. A
connection to Elasticsearch is required.
If another output is enabled, you need
to temporarily disable that output and enable Elasticsearch by using the
-E
option. The examples here assume that Logstash output is enabled. You can
omit the -E
flags if Elasticsearch output is already enabled.
If you are connecting to a secured Elasticsearch cluster, make sure you’ve configured credentials as described in Step 2: Configure Journalbeat.
If the host running Journalbeat does not have direct connectivity to Elasticsearch, see Load the template manually (alternate method).
To load the template, use the appropriate command for your system.
deb and rpm:
journalbeat setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
linux:
./journalbeat setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
docker:
docker run docker.elastic.co/beats/journalbeat:7.2.1 setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
Force Kibana to look at newest documents
editIf you’ve already used Journalbeat to index data into Elasticsearch,
the index may contain old documents. After you load the index template,
you can delete the old documents from journalbeat-*
to force Kibana to look
at the newest documents.
Use this command:
deb and rpm:
curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/journalbeat-*'
linux:
curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/journalbeat-*'
This command deletes all indices that match the pattern journalbeat-*
.
Before running this command, make sure you want to delete all indices that match
the pattern.
Load the template manually (alternate method)
editIf the host running Journalbeat does not have direct connectivity to Elasticsearch, you can export the index template to a file, move it to a machine that does have connectivity, and then install the template manually.
To export the index template, run:
deb and rpm:
journalbeat export template > journalbeat.template.json
linux:
./journalbeat export template > journalbeat.template.json
To install the template, run:
deb and rpm:
curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_template/journalbeat-7.2.1 -d@journalbeat.template.json
linux:
curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_template/journalbeat-7.2.1 -d@journalbeat.template.json