6.5.1

6 (Optional) To overwrite the default log size and log rotation for any of the logs.
a Click the name of the log that you want to customize.
b Click Edit and enter the number of rotations and the log size you want.
7 Click OK.
Changes to the syslog options take eect immediately.
Configuring Logging Levels for the Guest Operating System
Virtual machines can write support and troubleshooting information into a virtual machine log le stored
on a VMFS volume. The default seings for virtual machines are appropriate for most situations.
If your environment relies heavily on using vMotion, or if the defaults do not seem suitable for other
reasons, you can modify the logging seings for virtual machine guest operating systems.
New log le creation happens as follows:
n
Each time you power on or resume a virtual machine, and each time you migrate a virtual machine
with vMotion, a new log le is created.
n
Each time an entry is wrien to the log, the size of the log is checked. If vmx.log.rotateSize is set to a
nondefault value, and the size is over the limit, the next entry is wrien to a new log. If the maximum
number of log les exists, the oldest log le is deleted.
The default for vmx.log.rotateSize is zero (0), which means new logs are created during power-on, resume,
and so on. You can ensure the new log le creation happens more frequently by limiting the maximum size
of the log les with the vmx.log.rotateSize conguration parameter.
VMware recommends saving 10-log les, each one limited to no less than 2MB. These values are large
enough to capture sucient information to debug most problems. If you need logs for a longer time span,
you can set vmx.log.keepOld to 20.
Change the Number of Virtual Machine Log Files
You can change the number of the log les for all virtual machines on an ESXi host or for individual virtual
machines.
This procedure discusses limiting the virtual machine log le number on an individual virtual machine.
To limit the number of log les for all virtual machines on a host, edit the /etc/vmware/config le. If the
vmx.log.KeepOld property is not dened in the le, you can add it. For example, to keep ten log les for each
virtual machine, add the following to /etc/vmware/config:
vmx.log.keepOld = "10"
You can use a PowerCLI script to change this property on all the virtual machines on a host.
You can use the log.keepOld parameter to aect all log les, not just the virtual machine log les.
Prerequisites
Turn o the virtual machine.
Procedure
1 Log in to a vCenter Server system using the vSphere Web Client and nd the virtual machine.
a In the Navigator, select VMs and Templates.
b Find the virtual machine in the hierarchy.
2 Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit .
vSphere Monitoring and Performance
170 VMware, Inc.