Run Packetbeat on Docker
editRun Packetbeat on Docker
editDocker images for Packetbeat are available from the Elastic Docker registry. The base image is centos:7.
A list of all published Docker images and tags is available at www.docker.elastic.co.
These images are free to use under the Elastic license. They contain open source and free commercial features and access to paid commercial features. Start a 30-day trial to try out all of the paid commercial features. See the Subscriptions page for information about Elastic license levels.
Pull the image
editObtaining Packetbeat for Docker is as simple as issuing a docker pull command
against the Elastic Docker registry.
Version 8.17.0 of Packetbeat has not yet been released. No Docker image is currently available for Packetbeat 8.17.0.
docker pull docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:8.17.0
Alternatively, you can download other Docker images that contain only features available under the Apache 2.0 license. To download the images, go to www.docker.elastic.co.
Optional: Verify the image
editYou can use the Cosign application to verify the Packetbeat Docker image signature.
Version 8.17.0 of Packetbeat has not yet been released. No Docker image is currently available for Packetbeat 8.17.0.
wget https://artifacts.elastic.co/cosign.pub cosign verify --key cosign.pub docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:8.17.0
The cosign command prints the check results and the signature payload in JSON format:
Verification for docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:8.17.0 -- The following checks were performed on each of these signatures: - The cosign claims were validated - Existence of the claims in the transparency log was verified offline - The signatures were verified against the specified public key
Run the Packetbeat setup
editA known issue in version 8.17.0 prevents Beats Docker images from starting when no options are provided. When running an image on that version, add an --environment container parameter to avoid the problem. This is planned to be addressed in issue #42060.
Running Packetbeat with the setup command will create the index pattern and load visualizations , dashboards, and machine learning jobs. Run this command:
docker run --rm \ --cap-add=NET_ADMIN \ docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:8.17.0 \ setup -E setup.kibana.host=kibana:5601 \ -E output.elasticsearch.hosts=["elasticsearch:9200"]
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Substitute your Kibana and Elasticsearch hosts and ports. |
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If you are using the hosted Elasticsearch Service in Elastic Cloud, replace
the |
-E cloud.id=<Cloud ID from Elasticsearch Service> \ -E cloud.auth=elastic:<elastic password>
Run Packetbeat on a read-only file system
editIf you’d like to run Packetbeat in a Docker container on a read-only file
system, you can do so by specifying the --read-only option.
Packetbeat requires a stateful directory to store application data, so
with the --read-only option you also need to use the --mount option to
specify a path to where that data can be stored.
For example:
docker run --rm \ --mount type=bind,source=$(pwd)/data,destination=/usr/share/packetbeat/data \ --read-only \ docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:8.17.0
Configure Packetbeat on Docker
editThe Docker image provides several methods for configuring Packetbeat. The conventional approach is to provide a configuration file via a volume mount, but it’s also possible to create a custom image with your configuration included.
Example configuration file
editDownload this example configuration file as a starting point:
curl -L -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/beats/8.x/deploy/docker/packetbeat.docker.yml
Volume-mounted configuration
editOne way to configure Packetbeat on Docker is to provide packetbeat.docker.yml via a volume mount.
With docker run, the volume mount can be specified like this.
docker run -d \ --name=packetbeat \ --user=packetbeat \ --volume="$(pwd)/packetbeat.docker.yml:/usr/share/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml:ro" \ --cap-add="NET_RAW" \ --cap-add="NET_ADMIN" \ --network=host \ docker.elastic.co/beats/packetbeat:8.17.0 \ --strict.perms=false -e \ -E output.elasticsearch.hosts=["elasticsearch:9200"]
Customize your configuration
editThe packetbeat.docker.yml downloaded earlier should be customized for your environment. See Configure for more details. Edit the configuration file and customize it to match your environment then re-deploy your Packetbeat container.
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:8.17.0 COPY --chown=root:packetbeat packetbeat.yml /usr/share/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml
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:8.17.0
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:8.17.0
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.