6.0

VMware, Inc. 12
Command-Line Management in vSphere 5 and vSphere 6 for Service Console Users
Mostlogsareattoplevelandnotinsideadirectoryunder/var/run/log.Availablelogsdependonwhich
pluginsareinstalledandwhatotherchangesmighthavebeenmadetothesystem.Thefollowingtablelists
somefrequentlyusedlogsintheESXiShell.
Core Dump Setup for ESXi
Acoredumpcanbeusedtodeterminethereasonforsystemfailure.WithESX,thecoredumpwasplacedon
thelocaldiskinmanycases.WithESXi,youhavetwooptionsformanagingcoredumps.
 CreateadiagnosticpartitiononSANstorage.Eachhostmusthaveadiagnosticpartitionof100MB.If
multiplehostsshareaSAN,configureadiagnosticpartitionwith100MBforeachhost.
 InstallandconfigureESXiDumpCollector.NewinESXi,theDumpCollectorserviceallowsyoutosend
coredumpstoanetworkserver.ESXiDumpCollectorisespeciallyusefulfordeterminingreasonsfor
failureofESXihostsprovisionedwithAutoDeploy.
Youcanuseesxcli system coredumptoconfigurearemoteorlocal
coredumppartition.Youcanalsouse
theNetworkConfigurationhostprofiletosetuphoststouseESXiDumpCollector.Foreithercase,youcan
applythehostprofileofahostthatusesESXiDumpCollectortootherhosts.
To use ESXi Dump Collector
1InstalltheESXiDumpCollectorserviceonthevCenter
ServersystemoraWindowsorLinuxsystemof
yourchoice.
ESXiDumpCollectorisoneoftheservicesyoucaninstallusingthevCenterServersysteminstallation
package.SeevSphereInstallationandSetup.
IfyouusethevCenterServeronLinuxappliance,ESXiDumpCollectorispreinstalled.
2Setup
ESXisystemsthatshoulduseESXiDumpCollectorwithcommandsintheesxcli system
coredumpnamespace.
Twonamespacesaresupportedinsidethisnamespace.
 esxcli system coredump partition
 get:Retrieveoneofthedumppartitionvalues.
 list:ListallpartitionsonthesystemthathaveapartitiontypematchingtheVMwareCore
partitiontype.
 set:Setthecoredumppartitionforthissystem.
 esxcli system coredump network
 get:GetthecurrentlyconfigureparametersforESXiDumpCollector(networkcoredump),if
enabled.
 set:Settheparametersusedfornetworkcoredump.
ThefollowingexamplesetsupthenetworkandenablesESXiDumpCollectorwiththeESXCLIvCLI
command.
esxcli --server MyESXiHost system coredump network set --interface-name vmk0 --server-ipv4 10XX...
--port 6500
esxcli --server MyESXiHost system coredump network get --enable true --type network
ESX 4.x shell ESXi 5.x shell Description
/var/log/vmware/hostd.log /var/log/hostd.log Logforthehostdaemon.
/var/log/vmkwarning /var/log/vmkwarning.log
/var/log/vmksummary /var/log/vmksummary.log
/var/log/messages /var/log/vmkernel.log VMkernelwarningsandVMkernel
events.
/var/log/vmware/vpx/vpxa.log /var/log/vpxa.log vCenterServeragentlog.