[[packetbeat-geoip]]
== Export GeoIP Information

You can use Packetbeat along with the
{plugindoc}/ingest-geoip.html[ingest geoIP processor plugin] in Elasticsearch
to export geographic location information about source IPs for incoming HTTP
requests. Then you can use this info to visualize the location of your
clients on a map in Kibana.

Prior to version 5.0, Packetbeat provided a `geoip` configuration option for
exporting geoIP information about the source IPs.  Starting with 5.0, the
`geoip` configuration option in Beats is deprecated in favor of using the
ingest geoIP processor plugin. This plugin adds information about the
geographical location of IP addresses, based on data from the Maxmind GeoLite2
City Database. Because the plugin uses a geoIP database that's installed on
Elasticsearch, you no longer need to install a geoIP database on the
machines running Beats.

NOTE: If your use case involves using Logstash, you can use the
{logstashdoc}/plugins-filters-geoip.html[GeoIP filter] available in Logstash
instead of using the ingest plugin. However, using the ingest plugin is the
simplest approach when you don't require the additional processing power of
Logstash.

[float]
[[packetbeat-configuring-geoip]]
=== Configuring the ingest geoIP processor plugin

To configure Packetbeat and the ingest geoIP processor plugin:

1. {plugindoc}/ingest-geoip.html[Install the ingest geoIP processor plugin].
After installing the plugin, remember to restart the node.

2. Define an ingest node pipeline that uses a `geoip` processor to add location
info to the event. For example, you can use the Console in Kibana to create the
following pipeline:
+
[source,json]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PUT _ingest/pipeline/geoip-info
{
  "description": "Add geoip info",
  "processors": [
    {
      "geoip": {
        "field": "client_ip",
        "target_field": "client_geoip",
        "properties": ["location"],
        "ignore_failure": true
      }
    }
  ]
}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
This pipeline adds a `client_geoip.location` field of type `geo_point` to the
event. The ID of the pipeline is `geoip-info`. `client_ip` is the output field
in Packetbeat that contains the IP address of the client. You set
`ignore_failure` to `true` so that the pipeline will continue processing events
when it encounters an event that doesn't have a `client_ip` field.
+
See
{plugindoc}/using-ingest-geoip.html[Using the Geoip Processor in a Pipeline]
for more options.

3. In the Packetbeat config file, configure the Elasticsearch output to use the
pipeline. Specify the pipeline ID in the `pipeline` option under
`output.elasticsearch`. For example:
+
[source,yaml]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
output.elasticsearch:
  hosts: ["localhost:9200"]
  pipeline: geoip-info
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Run Packetbeat, passing in the configuration file that you updated earlier.
+
[source,shell]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
./packetbeat -e -c packetbeat.yml
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
The event that's sent to Elasticsearch should now include a
`client_geoip.location` field.

[float]
[[packetbeat-visualizing-location]]
=== Visualizing the location of your Packetbeat clients

To visualize the location of your Packetbeat clients, you can either
<<load-kibana-dashboards,set up the example Kibana dashboards>> (if
you haven't already), or create a new {kibanadoc}/tilemap.html[Tile map] in
Kibana and use the `client_geoip.location` field as the Geohash.

image:./images/kibana-update-map.png[Update Packetbeat client location map in Kibana]

TIP: If the map in the dashboard reports "no results found", and you don't see
`client_geoip.location` in the list of available Geohash fields, try refreshing
the field list in Kibana. On the Management tab, select the `packetbeat-*`
index pattern, and refresh the field list to pick up any fields that were added
by the ingest geoIP processor.
