Run elastic search as root user

Question

Im getting below error when i tried to start elastic search 5.0 with command ./elasticsearch and getting below error.

[2016-11-23T13:44:09,507][WARN ][o.e.b.ElasticsearchUncaughtExceptionHandler] [] uncaught exception in thread [main]
org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.StartupException: java.lang.RuntimeException: can not run elasticsearch as root
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.init(Elasticsearch.java:116) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.execute(Elasticsearch.java:103) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.cli.SettingCommand.execute(SettingCommand.java:54) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.mainWithoutErrorHandling(Command.java:96) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.main(Command.java:62) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:80) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:73) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: can not run elasticsearch as root
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.initializeNatives(Bootstrap.java:96) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.setup(Bootstrap.java:155) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.init(Bootstrap.java:286) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.init(Elasticsearch.java:112) ~[elasticsearch-5.0.1.jar:5.0.1]
    ... 6 more

I tried to start by switching to other user and tried sudo ./elasticsearch and got the same error. How to start elastic search as root user ?

Answer 1

Elasticsearch can't be run an root user. Elasticsearch itself restricts this. A new user named elasticsearch and group named elasticsearch is automatically created when we install elasticsearch. Can check entries by using following commands

$ sudo less /etc/passwd | grep "elasticsearch"
$ sudo less /etc/group | grep "elasticsearch"

We need to change ownership of all elasticsearch related files . Please follow the steps mentioned below.

Steps:

1.Change owership of all ES related files from root to elasticsearch using example cmd below.

$ sudo chown elasticsearch:elasticsearch -R /usr/share/elasticsearch
$ sudo chown elasticsearch:elasticsearch -R /var/log/elasticsearch
$ sudo chown elasticsearch:elasticsearch -R /var/lib/elasticsearch
$ sudo chown elasticsearch:elasticsearch -R /etc/default/elasticsearch
$ sudo chown elasticsearch:elasticsearch -R /etc/elasticsearch

2.Open /etc/default/elasticsearch file and do the following things

  a)JAVA_HOME=your/java/home/path
  b)add the following entries at the end
      i)   START_DAEMON=true
      ii)  ES_USER=elasticsearch
      iii) ES_GROUP=elasticsearch

3.Now enable elasticsearch service and start

  $ sudo systemctl enable elasticsearch
  $ sudo systemctl start elasticsearch
  $ sudo systemctl status elasticsearch

4.Test elasticsearch by using curl. Say your host ip is 192.168.5.194 and ES running on port 9200

$ curl -X GET ‘192.168.5.194:9200’

DONE!!

Ref.: https://stackoverflow.com/a/48390311/1445978

Answer 2

Root cause of this issue is: ElasticSearch is not allowed to run from root owner. There is another possiblity for this issue "Java path is set for root user only not for all other users". Solution of this issue:

Step 1: Change the ownership of elasticSearch directory from root to other user by command. $sudo chown -R current_User:Group_Name elasticsearch-5.5.0

Setp 2: Check Java set in classpath for current user[not only for root]. If command : $java -version or echo $JAVA_HOME command giving empty result. That means we should set Java in classpath [system env varible] for current user then Follow Step 3. otherwise start elasticsearch service.

Step 3: Edit /etc/profile and add two lines as per your system dir export JAVA_HOME="Java dir location"

export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH Run $source source /etc/profile

After this run elasticSearch service. It worked for me perfectly.

Answer 3

There are two ways to solve this problem :

Method1: download zip file n unzip then start by following command

bin/elasticsearch -Des.insecure.allow.root=true -d

Method2:

vi bin/elasticsearch

Add property for allow root:

ES_JAVA_OPTS="-Des.insecure.allow.root=true"

Save and close. You can start by root now.

Answer 4

I had the same problem and I had to connect with another user. But first, I had to grant him the rights to execute the bin/elasticsearch.

Answer 5

A little late reply, but relevant still now. I faced the same problem when i followed this , the last resort was to change the ownership of the folders which got un-zipped.

Just did sudo chown <nonrootuser> <unzipped-es-folder> -R does the trick.

PS i was doing it on Ubuntu 17.04 LTS.

Answer 6

从根文件夹运行 bin/elasticsearch 是一个常见的错误。

Answer 7

If you're trying to run with systemd or as a service make sure that your .service file is running as user and group elasticsearch. You can specify your user and group under the Service field.

It's usually located in /etc/systemd/system/elasticsearch.service :

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
KillMode=process
User=elasticsearch
Group=elasticsearch

Answer 8

-Ees.insecure.allow.root method did not work for me, as I was on version 7.9.0.

And I was too lazy to go for chown method, mentioned by @Devasish .

Instead, tried a bit lengthy one:

Create a non-root user for elastic-search:

ubuntu ~ # adduser elasticuser

Must use adduser command, not useradd. adduser will auto-create the home directory.

Copy elastic-search folder from root's home-directory to elasticuser's home-directory:

ubuntu ~ # cp -R ./elasticsearch-7.9.0 /home/elasticuser/elasticsearch-7.9.0

Switch to the non-root user:

ubuntu ~ # su - elasticuser

Now, run elastic-search from the non-root user:

elasticuser@ubuntu ~ $ ./elasticsearch-7.9.0/bin/elasticsearch

Answer 9

Why to run everything as a root user. Use a normal user instead of root user.

Switch to normal user and run it. If you don't have a any other user refer to Linuxize document on creating a user.

If you can't run it as a normal user then check the permissions for the file, Give complete access to the user over the file or folder using chmod 777 <elastic_search_folder> .

Please refer to chmod wiki document for further details.

If you want to use root user then do the following command from the elastic search folder.

./elasticsearch -Des.insecure.allow.root=true

re-run the the elastic search. It should definately work.

Answer 10

This was asked before for ES2 ( How to run Elasticsearch 2.1.1 as root user in Linux machine )

The same solution may work for 5.

As stated previously, you should probably not so this..

Answer 11

Create a separate user without giving sudo privileges. ex: adduser elasticsearch then grant ownership of the folder to that user ex: chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch elasticsearch-folder then switch to that user ex: su elasticsearch Now try running the service ex: ./elasticsearch-xxx/bin/elasticsearch

Answer 12

On centos 8,

adduser elasticuser
chown -R elasticuser:elasticsearch /usr/share/elasticsearch/
chown -R elasticuser:elasticsearch /etc/sysconfig/elasticsearch
chown -R elasticuser:elasticsearch /etc/elasticsearch
chown -R elasticuser:elasticsearch /var/log/elasticsearch/
chown -R elasticuser:elasticsearch /var/lib/elasticsearch

To run elasticsearch:

su elasticuser
/usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch