---
title: Shutting Down Logstash
description: If you’re running Logstash as a service, use one of the following commands to stop it: On systemd, use:. If you’re running Logstash directly in the console...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/logstash/shutdown
products:
  - Logstash
---

# Shutting Down Logstash
If you’re running Logstash as a service, use one of the following commands to stop it:
- On systemd, use:
  ```shell
  systemctl stop logstash
  ```

If you’re running Logstash directly in the console on a POSIX system, you can stop it by sending SIGTERM to the Logstash process. For example:
```shell
kill -TERM {logstash_pid}
```

Alternatively, enter **Ctrl-C** in the console.

## What Happens During a Controlled Shutdown?

When you attempt to shut down a running Logstash instance, Logstash performs several steps before it can safely shut down. It must:
- Stop all input, filter and output plugins
- Process all in-flight events
- Terminate the Logstash process

The following conditions affect the shutdown process:
- An input plugin receiving data at a slow pace.
- A slow filter, like a Ruby filter executing `sleep(10000)` or an Elasticsearch filter that is executing a very heavy query.
- A disconnected output plugin that is waiting to reconnect to flush in-flight events.

These situations make the duration and success of the shutdown process unpredictable.
Logstash has a stall detection mechanism that analyzes the behavior of the pipeline and plugins during shutdown. This mechanism produces periodic information about the count of inflight events in internal queues and a list of busy worker threads.
To enable Logstash to forcibly terminate in the case of a stalled shutdown, use the `--pipeline.unsafe_shutdown` flag when you start Logstash.
<warning>
  Unsafe shutdowns, force-kills of the Logstash process, or crashes of the Logstash process for any other reason may result in data loss (unless you’ve enabled Logstash to use [persistent queues](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/logstash/persistent-queues)). Shut down Logstash safely whenever possible.
</warning>


## Stall Detection Example

In this example, slow filter execution prevents the pipeline from performing a clean shutdown. Because Logstash is started with the `--pipeline.unsafe_shutdown` flag, the shutdown results in the loss of 20 events.
<admonition title="Admonition">
  ```shell
  bin/logstash -e 'input { generator { } } filter { ruby { code => "sleep 10000" } }
    output { stdout { codec => dots } }' -w 1 --pipeline.unsafe_shutdown
  Pipeline main started
  ^CSIGINT received. Shutting down the agent. {:level=>:warn}
  stopping pipeline {:id=>"main", :level=>:warn}
  Received shutdown signal, but pipeline is still waiting for in-flight events
  to be processed. Sending another ^C will force quit Logstash, but this may cause
  data loss. {:level=>:warn}
  {"inflight_count"=>125, "stalling_thread_info"=>{["LogStash::Filters::Ruby",
  {"code"=>"sleep 10000"}]=>[{"thread_id"=>19, "name"=>"[main]>worker0",
  "current_call"=>"(ruby filter code):1:in `sleep'"}]}} {:level=>:warn}
  The shutdown process appears to be stalled due to busy or blocked plugins.
  Check the logs for more information. {:level=>:error}
  {"inflight_count"=>125, "stalling_thread_info"=>{["LogStash::Filters::Ruby",
  {"code"=>"sleep 10000"}]=>[{"thread_id"=>19, "name"=>"[main]>worker0",
  "current_call"=>"(ruby filter code):1:in `sleep'"}]}} {:level=>:warn}
  {"inflight_count"=>125, "stalling_thread_info"=>{["LogStash::Filters::Ruby",
  {"code"=>"sleep 10000"}]=>[{"thread_id"=>19, "name"=>"[main]>worker0",
  "current_call"=>"(ruby filter code):1:in `sleep'"}]}} {:level=>:warn}
  Forcefully quitting logstash.. {:level=>:fatal}
  ```
</admonition>

When `--pipeline.unsafe_shutdown` isn’t enabled, Logstash continues to run and produce these reports periodically.