[[filebeat-configuration-reloading]]
== Load external configuration files

Filebeat can load external configuration files for prospectors and modules,
which allows you to separate your configuration into multiple smaller
configuration files. See the <<load-prospector-config>> and the
<<load-module-config>> sections for details.

include::../../libbeat/docs/shared-note-file-permissions.asciidoc[]

[float]
[[load-prospector-config]]
=== Prospector config

For prospector configurations, you specify `path` option in the
`filebeat.config.prospectors` section of the +{beatname_lc}.yml+ file. For
example:

[source,yaml]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
filebeat.config.prospectors:
  enabled: true
  path: configs/*.yml
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Each file found by the Glob must contain a list of one or more prospector
definitions. For example:

[source,yaml]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- type: log
  paths:
    - /var/log/mysql.log
  scan_frequency: 10s

- type: log
  paths:
    - /var/log/apache.log
  scan_frequency: 5s
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WARNING: It is critical that two running prospectors DO NOT have overlapping
file paths defined. If more than one prospector harvests the same file at the
same time, it can lead to unexpected behavior.

[float]
[[load-module-config]]
=== Module config

For module configurations, you specify the `path` option in the
`filebeat.config.modules` section of the +{beatname_lc}.yml+ file. By default,
Filebeat loads the module configurations enabled in the
<<enable-modules-d-configs,`modules.d`>> directory. For example:

[source,yaml]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
filebeat.config.modules:
  enabled: true
  path: ${path.config}/modules.d/*.yml
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The `path` setting must point to the `modules.d` directory if you want to use
the <<modules-command,`modules`>> command to enable and disable module
configurations.

Each file found by the Glob must contain a list of one or more module
definitions. For example:

[source,yaml]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- module: apache2
  access:
    enabled: true
    var.paths: [/var/log/apache2/access.log*]
  error:
    enabled: true
    var.paths: [/var/log/apache2/error.log*]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


=== Live reloading

You can configure Filebeat to dynamically reload configuration files when there
are changes. This feature is available for prospector and module configuration
files only.

To configure this feature, you specify a path
(https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Glob[Glob]) to watch for configuration
changes. When the files found by the Glob change, new prospectors and/or
modules are started and stopped according to changes in the configuration files.

This feature is especially useful in container environments where one container
is used to tail logs for services running in other containers on the same host.

To enable dynamic config reloading, you specify the `path` and `reload` options
under `filebeat.config.prospectors` or `filebeat.config.modules` sections. For
example:

[source,yaml]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
filebeat.config.prospectors:
  enabled: true
  path: configs/*.yml
  reload.enabled: true
  reload.period: 10s
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

`path`:: A Glob that defines the files to check for changes.
`reload.enabled`:: When set to `true`, enables dynamic config reload.
`reload.period`:: Specifies how often the files are checked for changes. Do not
set the `period` to less than 1s because the modification time of files is often
stored in seconds. Setting the `period` to less than 1s will result in
unnecessary overhead.

include::../../libbeat/docs/shared-note-file-permissions.asciidoc[]