Beats breaking changes

This list summarizes the most important breaking changes in Beats. For the complete list, go to Beats breaking changes.

Environment variables are still supported in the Beats configuration. However, starting in Version 7.7.0, an environment variable cannot reference another environment variable or event in the configuration.

For example, if you have export VAR1=${VAR2} and use var: ${VAR1} in the configuration, this results in var: "${VAR2}", where ${VAR2} is not expanded.

Prior to this release, it was possible to use the add_docker_metadata and add_kubernetes_metadata processors in the script processor. This was not a good practice because it sometimes resulted in memory and file descriptor leaks.

Starting in version 7.7.0, scripts that use these processors will fail. To resolve this problem, define the processors in your configuration instead of the script.

The Kafka output fails to connect when using multiple TLS brokers. We advise not to upgrade to Beats 7.7.1 if you’re using the Kafka output in this configuration.

Prior to this release, the systemd unit file set BEAT_LOG_OPTS=-e, which caused Beats to ignore the logging options specified in the configuration file.

The systemd unit file no longer sets this option, and the logging settings specified under logging in the configuration now work.

If you set Environment="BEAT_LOG_OPTS= in a previous release to work around this problem, remove that workaround now, and use the logging options in the configuration file to control logging behavior. For example, see Configure logging.