Filebeat autodiscover: multi‑level glob pattern support in nested modules

Filebeat autodiscover: multi‑level glob pattern support in nested modules

Goal

We want to ingest logs from a directory hierarchy using Filebeat’s autodiscover, but the current configuration seems to miss files that match glob patterns spanning several levels.

Constraints & Uncertainty

The autodiscover module accepts glob patterns, yet the implementation stops at the first directory separator. Additionally, when nested modules are defined, the 'exclude_files' option appears to be ignored, causing unintended ingestion. Documentation does not clarify whether these behaviors are intentional or a known limitation.

Questions

• How can we configure Filebeat to correctly match files across multiple directory levels when using nested autodiscover modules?
• What options or workarounds exist to ensure 'exclude_files' is respected within nested module definitions?
• Is there a documented order of evaluation for multiple autodiscover providers, and how can we guarantee deterministic ingestion timing?