Startup Error: Can not run elasticsearch as root

aravindhrs · September 28, 2020, 6:15am

@LowkiGG, As per ES code:

elastic/elasticsearch/blob/93de1ed6068e8e9f35897f623efe00aa3cfafeea/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/Bootstrap.java#L89


        }
    });
}

/** initialize native resources */
public static void initializeNatives(Path tmpFile, boolean mlockAll, boolean seccomp, boolean ctrlHandler) {
    final ESLogger logger = Loggers.getLogger(Bootstrap.class);

    // check if the user is running as root, and bail
    if (Natives.definitelyRunningAsRoot()) {
        if (Boolean.parseBoolean(System.getProperty("es.insecure.allow.root"))) {
            logger.warn("running as ROOT user. this is a bad idea!");
        } else {
            throw new RuntimeException("don't run elasticsearch as root.");
        }
    }

    // enable secure computing mode
    if (seccomp) {
        Natives.trySeccomp(tmpFile);
    }

So by enabling the property es.insecure.allow.root you can run ES as root user.

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