Directory layoutedit

The directory layout of an installation is as follows:

Type Description Default Location Config Option

home

Home of the Packetbeat installation.

path.home

bin

The location for the binary files.

{path.home}/bin

config

The location for configuration files.

{path.home}

path.config

data

The location for persistent data files.

{path.home}/data

path.data

logs

The location for the logs created by Packetbeat.

{path.home}/logs

path.logs

You can change these settings by using CLI flags or setting path options in the configuration file.

Default pathsedit

Packetbeat uses the following default paths unless you explicitly change them.

deb and rpmedit
Type Description Location

home

Home of the Packetbeat installation.

/usr/share/packetbeat

bin

The location for the binary files.

/usr/share/packetbeat/bin

config

The location for configuration files.

/etc/packetbeat

data

The location for persistent data files.

/var/lib/packetbeat

logs

The location for the logs created by Packetbeat.

/var/log/packetbeat

For the deb and rpm distributions, these paths are set in the init script or in the systemd unit file. Make sure that you start the Packetbeat service by using the preferred operating system method (init scripts or systemctl). Otherwise the paths might be set incorrectly.

dockeredit
Type Description Location

home

Home of the Packetbeat installation.

/usr/share/packetbeat

bin

The location for the binary files.

/usr/share/packetbeat

config

The location for configuration files.

/usr/share/packetbeat

data

The location for persistent data files.

/usr/share/packetbeat/data

logs

The location for the logs created by Packetbeat.

/usr/share/packetbeat/logs

zip, tar.gz, or tgzedit
Type Description Location

home

Home of the Packetbeat installation.

{extract.path}

bin

The location for the binary files.

{extract.path}

config

The location for configuration files.

{extract.path}

data

The location for persistent data files.

{extract.path}/data

logs

The location for the logs created by Packetbeat.

{extract.path}/logs

For the zip, tar.gz, or tgz distributions, these paths are based on the location of the extracted binary file. This means that if you start Packetbeat with the following simple command, all paths are set correctly:

./packetbeat