Location of vCenter Server SMTP mail log files

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article helps in locating vCenter Server using SMTP mail log files.

Symptoms:

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x

Resolution

The errors for SMTP mail alerts appear in the vpxd.log file, located at:

• vCenter Server 5.x and earlier versions on Windows 2003 Server – %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\
• vCenter Server 5.x and earlier versions on Windows 2008 Server and up – C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\
• vCenter Server 5.x Linux Virtual Appliance – /var/log/vmware/vpx/
• vCenter Server 6.x and higher versions on Windows server: C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\Logs\<Service Name>
  vCenter Server Appliance 6.x: /var/log/vmware/<Service Name> vCenter Server Appliance 7.0.x: /var/log/vmware/<Service Name>

The vpxd.log file contains entry similar to:

<YYY-MM-DD>T<time> [05596 error 'win32vpxdMail_win32' opID=task-internal-17210-c6506a65] [VpxdMail] Failed to send the mail to SMTP server 10.10.10.10 at port 25. Error=The transport failed to connect to the server.-->
</time>

Additional Information

For more information, see:

 

vCenter 4.x:

Configure vCenter Server SMTP Mail Settings

Configure Mail Sender Settings

vCenter 5.x:

Configure vCenter Server to Send Alarm Email Notifications

vCenter 6.0:
Configure Mail Sender Settings