ESXi Log Files

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ESXi Log Files
  • ·  /var/log/auth.log: ESXi Shell authentication success and failure attempts.
  • ·  /var/log/dhclient.log: DHCP client log.
  • · /var/log/esxupdate.log: ESXi patch and update installation logs.
  • · /var/log/hostd.log: Host management service logs, including virtual machine and host Task and Events, communication with the vSphere Client and vCenter Server vpxa agent, and SDK connections.
  • ·/var/log/shell.log: ESXi Shell usage logs, including enable/disable and every command entered.
  • · /var/log/boot.gz: A compressed file that contains boot log information and can be read using zcat /var/log/boot.gz|more.
  • ·/var/log/syslog.log: Management service initialization, watchdogs, scheduled tasks and DCUI use.
  • · /var/log/usb.log: USB device arbitration events, such as discovery and pass-through to virtual machines.
  • · /var/log/vob.log: VMkernel Observation events, similar to vob.component.event.
  • · /var/log/vmkernel.log: Core VMkernel logs, including device discovery, storage and networking device and driver events, and virtual machine startup.
  • · /var/log/vmkwarning.log: A summary of Warning and Alert log messages excerpted from the VMkernel logs.
  • · /var/log/vmksummary.log: A summary of ESXi host startup and shutdown, and an hourly heartbeat with uptime, number of virtual machines running, and service resource consumption
Viewing log file
  • There are a number of ways in which you can view log files,
  • The first place is simply from the DCUI on the host. You can move down to ‘View System Logs’, then choose the log file that you would like to view:
  • The second way is to use the vSphere client. By making a connection directly to a host, rather than vSphere, you can view the hosts log files:
  • The third way is to view a host’s log files is to use a web browser.  Using a url like this one: https://192.168.0.122/host
  • Forth way is to connect to SSH to the host and view the log files from the SSH console
cat hostd.log | more
less hostd.log
tail hostd.log
tail -f hostd.log
zcat /var/log/boot.gz
You can also search logs using grep:
cat hostd.log | grep keyword
  • Last and fifth way is to use Power CLI
 Generating logs in bundle for investigation

By exporting logs using vsphere client: File->Export system logs


Using Power CLI: Get-Log -Bundle -DestinationPath


 Connecting to the host through SSH and using vm -support command

vm-support-Hostname.tgz

 
 

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