This article provides the default location of the most common ESX log files.
Logs on an ESX host can be reviewed from:
https://HostnameOrIPAddress/host
. For more information, see the HTTP Access to vSphere Server Files section of the vSphere Web Services SDK documentation.vm-support
log bundle. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESX/ESXi using the vSphere Client (653) or Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESX/ESXi using the vm-support command (1010705).vifs
command line utility in the vCLI. For more information, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface documentation./var/log/vmkernel
– Core VMkernel logs, including device discovery, storage and networking device and driver events, and virtual machine startup./var/log/vmkwarning
– Summary of Warning and Alert log messages excerpted from the VMkernel logs./var/log/vmksummary
– Summary of ESX host startup and shutdown, and an hourly heartbeat with uptime, number of virtual machines running, and service console resource consumption./var/log/messages
– Messages from the Service Console Linux kernel, including service startup and shutdown./var/log/vmware/hostd.log –
Host management service logs, including virtual machine and host Tasks and Events, communication with the vSphere Client and vCenter Server vpxa
agent, and SDK connections./var/log/boot-logs/sysboot.log –
Early VMkernel startup, module loading, and host initialization./var/log/vmkiscsid.log –
Software iSCSI Client logs.When an ESX host is managed by vCenter Server or VirtualCenter Server, two components are installed, each with its own logs:
/var/log/vmware/vpx/vpxa.log –
vCenter Server vpxa agent logs, including communication with vCenter Server and the Host Management hostd agent./var/log/vmware/fdm/*
/var/log/vmware/aam/*
For related information, see the main article in this series, Location of log files for VMware products (1021806).
“vm-support” command in ESX/ESXi to collect diagnostic information