WARNING: Version 6.0 of Packetbeat has passed its EOL date.
This documentation is no longer being maintained and may be removed. If you are running this version, we strongly advise you to upgrade. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.
Running Packetbeat on Docker
editRunning Packetbeat on Docker
editDocker images for Packetbeat are available from the Elastic Docker
registry. You can retrieve an image with a docker pull
command.
docker pull docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:6.0.1
The base image is centos:7 and the source code can be found on GitHub.
Configure Packetbeat on Docker
editThe Docker image provides several methods for configuring Packetbeat. The conventional approach is to provide a configuration file via a bind-mounted volume, but it’s also possible to create a custom image with your configuration included.
Bind-mounted configuration
editOne way to configure Packetbeat on Docker is to provide packetbeat.yml
via bind-mounting.
With docker run
, the bind-mount can be specified like this:
docker run \ -v ~/packetbeat.yml:/usr/share/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml \ docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:6.0.1
Custom image configuration
editIt’s possible to embed your Packetbeat configuration in a custom image. Here is an example Dockerfile to achieve this:
FROM docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:6.0.1 COPY packetbeat.yml /usr/share/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml USER root RUN chown packetbeat /usr/share/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml USER packetbeat
Required network capabilities
editUnder Docker, Packetbeat runs as a non-root user, but requires some privileged
network capabilities to operate correctly. Ensure that the NET_ADMIN
capability is available to the container.
docker run --cap-add=NET_ADMIN docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:6.0.1
Capture traffic from the host system
editBy default, Docker networking will connect the Packetbeat container to an
isolated virtual network, with a limited view of network traffic. You may wish
to connect the container directly to the host network in order to see traffic
destined for, and originating from, the host system. With docker run
, this can
be achieved by specifying --network=host
.
docker run --cap-add=NET_ADMIN --network=host docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:6.0.1
On Windows and MacOS, specifying --network=host
will bind the
container’s network interface to the virtual interface of Docker’s embedded
Linux virtual machine, not to the physical interface of the host system.