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  • Which ESX log file


    Quite a few customers have asked me how to look in ESX logs themselves. They know support often requests these logs to diagnose problems and want to know what’s in these logs. Here you go. A short list of the log files found in VMware ESX Server.

    [We have a corresponding list for Virtual Center here]

    • Vmkernel - /var/log/vmkernel – records activities related to the virtual machines and ESX server.

    • Vmkernel Warnings - /var/log/vmkwarning – records activities with the virtual machines.

    • Vmkernel Summary - /var/log/vmksummary - Used to determine uptime and availability statistics for ESX Server; human-readable summary found in /var/log/vmksummary.txt

    • ESX Server host agent log - /var/log/vmware/hostd.log - Contains information on the agent that manages and configures the ESX Server host and its virtual machines (Search the file date/time stamps to find the log file it is currently outputting to).

    • Service Console - /var/log/messages - Contain all general log messages used to troubleshoot virtual machines on ESX Server.

    • Web Access - /var/log/vmware/webAccess - Records information on Web-based access to ESX Server.

    • Authentication log - /var/log/secure - Contains records of connections that require authentication, such as VMware daemons and actions initiated by the xinetd daemon.

    • VirtualCenter agent - /var/log/vmware/vpx - Contains information on the agent that communicates with VirtualCenter.

    • Virtual Machines - The same directory as the affected virtual machine’s configuration files; named vmware.log - Contain information when a virtual machine crashes or ends abnormally.


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