Configure Metricbeat to use X-Pack security

edit

Configure Metricbeat to use X-Pack security

edit

If you want Metricbeat to connect to a cluster that has X-Pack security enabled, there are extra configuration steps:

  1. Configure authentication credentials.

    To send data to a secured cluster through the elasticsearch output, Metricbeat needs to authenticate as a user who can manage index templates, monitor the cluster, create indices, and read and write to the indices it creates.

  2. Grant users access to Metricbeat indices.

    To search the indexed Metricbeat data and visualize it in Kibana, users need access to the indices Metricbeat creates.

  3. Configure Metricbeat to use encrypted connections.

    If encryption is enabled on the cluster, you need to enable HTTPS in the Metricbeat configuration.

  4. Set the password for the beats_system built-in user.

    Metricbeat uses the beats_system user to send monitoring data to Elasticsearch. If you plan to monitor Metricbeat in Kibana and have not yet set up the password, set it up now.

For more information about X-Pack security, see Securing the Elastic Stack.

Metricbeat features that require authorization

edit

After securing Metricbeat, make sure your users have the roles (or associated privileges) required to use these Metricbeat features. You must create the metricbeat_writer and metricbeat_reader roles (see Configure authentication credentials and Grant users access to Metricbeat indices). The machine_learning_admin and kibana_user roles are built-in.

Feature Role

Send data to a secured cluster

metricbeat_writer

Load index templates

metricbeat_writer and kibana_user

Load Metricbeat dashboards into Kibana

metricbeat_writer and kibana_user

Load machine learning jobs

machine_learning_admin

Read indices created by Metricbeat

metricbeat_reader

View Metricbeat dashboards in Kibana

kibana_user