# Sidecar installation and startup on RHEL 9 **URL:** \ **Category:** Graylog Central (peer support)\ **Created:** [February 4, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://community.graylog.org/t/sidecar-installation-and-startup-on-rhel-9/36953 "2026-02-04T15:35:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![d\_a\_parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@d\_a\_parker](https://community.graylog.org/u/d_a_parker)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://community.graylog.org/t/sidecar-installation-and-startup-on-rhel-9/36953/1 "2026-02-04T15:35:48Z")
Hi all, I’m trying to deploy a Linux sidecar and filebeat collector on a host running RHEL 9, to send logs to a new Graylog 7 server. I’m following [the documentation found here](https://go2docs.graylog.org/current/getting_in_log_data/set_up_sidecar_collectors.htm), but running into an issue with enabling and starting the sidecar service. These are the general steps I have taken so far: 1. Downloaded and installed the repo: `wget ``https://packages.graylog2.org/repo/packages/graylog-sidecar-1.5-repository_latest.rpm` `sudo rpm -i graylog-sidecar-1.5-repository_latest.rpm` 2. Installed graylog-sidecar: `sudo yum install graylog-sidecar` 3. Edited **/etc/graylog/sidecar/sidecar.yml** and set the appropriate config values The next step is to enable and start the graylog-sidecar service, but systemctl threw an error: `$ sudo systemctl enable graylog-sidecar` `Failed to enable unit: Unit file graylog-sidecar.service does not exist.` And indeed, the graylog-sidecar RPM does not include any systemd service files: `$ rpm -ql graylog-sidecar` `/etc/graylog` `/etc/graylog/sidecar` `/etc/graylog/sidecar/sidecar.yml` `/usr/bin/graylog-sidecar` `/usr/lib/.build-id` `/usr/lib/.build-id/74` `/usr/lib/.build-id/74/79b116ac3037ce65f85f9a24132b1b4491c19d` `/usr/lib/.build-id/f3` `/usr/lib/.build-id/f3/9f274352929440b2c54bf9ec01f13c2c10bbb7` `/usr/lib/graylog-sidecar` `/usr/lib/graylog-sidecar/auditbeat` `/usr/lib/graylog-sidecar/filebeat` `/var/lib/graylog-sidecar` `/var/lib/graylog-sidecar/generated` `/var/log/graylog-sidecar` `/var/run/graylog-sidecar` Has there been a change to the sidecar RPM deployment procedure? Or did I install the wrong package, perhaps? Any help is greatly appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![d\_a\_parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@d\_a\_parker](https://community.graylog.org/u/d_a_parker)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 3:58pm UTC](https://community.graylog.org/t/sidecar-installation-and-startup-on-rhel-9/36953/2 "2026-02-04T15:58:27Z")
Ok, I solved the issue. The documentation is missing a critical step. You first need to run: `sudo graylog-sidecar -service install` The systemd unit file gets created, and then systemctl works as expected. Found the answer thanks to pointers in a few previous topics: [https://community.graylog.org/t/installing-graylog-sidecar-on-linux-2-x-rhel-6/](https://community.graylog.org/t/installing-graylog-sidecar-on-linux-2-x-rhel-6/) [https://community.graylog.org/t/unit-graylog-sidecar-service-not-found-ubuntu-linux-20-04](https://community.graylog.org/t/unit-graylog-sidecar-service-not-found-ubuntu-linux-20-04) ---
**Author:** ![Joel\_Duffield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@Joel\_Duffield](https://community.graylog.org/u/Joel_Duffield)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://community.graylog.org/t/sidecar-installation-and-startup-on-rhel-9/36953/3 "2026-02-04T16:28:32Z")
Ya the docs used to include ```auto vi /etc/graylog/sidecar/sidecar.yml sudo graylog-sidecar -service install sudo systemctl enable graylog-sidecar sudo systemctl start graylog-sidecar ``` Here is the older page, I’ll check with the docs team on why it’s gone missing in the current version. > **[Install Sidecar on Linux](https://go2docs.graylog.org/6-3/getting_in_log_data/install_sidecar_on_linux.htm?tocpath=Get%20in%20Logs%7CSidecar%7CInstall%20Graylog%20Sidecar%7C _____ 1)** > > Install Graylog Sidecar on Linux to manage log collectors like Filebeat or NXLog. Configure API tokens, adjust sidecar.yml, and run it as a service for automatic log ingestion. ---
**Author:** ![d\_a\_parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@d\_a\_parker](https://community.graylog.org/u/d_a_parker)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://community.graylog.org/t/sidecar-installation-and-startup-on-rhel-9/36953/4 "2026-02-04T16:38:04Z")
Thanks, Joel! The link to the GitHub page is also gone, and that would have been very handy to have because **`graylog-sidecar.rpm`** does not intuitively translate to **`graylog-sidecar-1.5-repository_latest.rpm`** when you’re trying to download that first RPM. I had to look through the repo site in a browser to find the actual URL of that file, but it’s readily accessible on the GitHub page. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/graylog/original/3X/c/7/c7c09c6b5099570133d6502b83f50ba4430de5b6.png) [@system](https://community.graylog.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://community.graylog.org/t/sidecar-installation-and-startup-on-rhel-9/36953/5 "2026-02-18T16:38:55Z")
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