6.0

System Log Files
In addition to lists of events and alarms, vSphere components generate assorted logs.
These logs contain additional information about activities in your vSphere environment.
View System Log Entries
You can view system logs generated by vSphere components.
Procedure
1 From the Home page of a vSphere Client connected to either a vCenter Server system or an ESX/ESXi
host, click System Logs.
2 From the drop-down menu, select the log and entry you want to view.
3 Select View > Filtering to refer to the filtering options.
4 Enter text in the data field.
5 Click Clear to empty the data field.
View System Logs on an ESXi Host
You can use the direct console interface to view the system logs on an ESXi host. These logs provide
information about system operational events.
Procedure
1 From the direct console, select View System Logs.
2 Press a corresponding number key to view a log.
vCenter Server agent (vpxa) logs appear if the host is managed by vCenter Server.
3 Press Enter or the spacebar to scroll through the messages.
4 (Optional) Perform a regular expression search.
a Press the slash key (/).
b Type the text to find.
c Press Enter
The found text is highlighted on the screen.
5 Press q to return to the direct console.
External System Logs
VMware technical support might request several files to help resolve any issues you have with the product.
This section describes the types and locations of log files found on various ESXi component systems.
NOTE On Windows systems, several log files are stored in the Local Settings directory, which is located at
C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Local Settings\. This folder is hidden by default.
ESXi System Logs
You might need the ESXi system log files to resolve technical issues.
The ESXi system logs can be found in the /var/run/log directory.
vSphere Administration with the vSphere Client
424 VMware, Inc.