6.7

Table Of Contents
Guidelines for Troubleshooting
To troubleshoot your implementation of vSphere, identify the symptoms of the problem, determine which
of the components are affected, and test possible solutions.
Identifying Symptoms A number of potential causes might lead to the under-performance or
nonperformance of your implementation. The first step in efficient
troubleshooting is to identify exactly what is going wrong.
Defining the Problem
Space
After you have isolated the symptoms of the problem, you must define the
problem space. Identify the software or hardware components that are
affected and might be causing the problem and those components that are
not involved.
Testing Possible
Solutions
When you know what the symptoms of the problem are and which
components are involved, test the solutions systematically until the problem
is resolved.
Troubleshooting Basics (http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2296383276001?
bctid=ref:video_vsphere_troubleshooting)
Identifying Symptoms
Before you attempt to resolve a problem in your implementation, you must identify precisely how it is
failing.
The first step in the troubleshooting process is to gather information that defines the specific symptoms of
what is happening. You might ask these questions when gathering this information:
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What is the task or expected behavior that is not occurring?
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Can the affected task be divided into subtasks that you can evaluate separately?
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Is the task ending in an error? Is an error message associated with it?
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Is the task completing but in an unacceptably long time?
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Is the failure consistent or sporadic?
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What has changed recently in the software or hardware that might be related to the failure?
Defining the Problem Space
After you identify the symptoms of the problem, determine which components in your setup are affected,
which components might be causing the problem, and which components are not involved.
To define the problem space in an implementation of vSphere, be aware of the components present. In
addition to VMware software, consider third-party software in use and which hardware is being used with
the VMware virtual hardware.
vSphere Networking
VMware, Inc. 250