Collecting limited and specific information from vc-support using manifests

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

This article will describe how to collect service-specific or area-specific vc-support bundles using vc-support command.

By default, the vc-support command will collect logs about all vCenter Services along with core dump files.

This collection can be restricted to specific areas of interest through the use of vc-support "manifests". Running vc-support with "manifests" option is useful in below scenarios：
    1 the vc-support collection keeping fails in certain areas. 
    2 uploading huge vc-support bundle files which contain vCHA peer node log files take too much time.

Method details will be discussed below.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0
VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Resolution

1. Log into the vCSA via local console or SSH.

2. Obtain a list of available manifests (or see the "Additional Information" section)

# vc-support --listmanifests

3. Identify the manifests you wish to collect or not wish to collect(e.g., 'VirtualAppliance:VpxdDb' and ‘VirtualAppliance:Postgres’)

4. Run vc-support to collect only those manifests.

For example:

# vc-support -a ‘VirtualAppliance:VpxdDb VirtualAppliance:Postgres’

5. Run vc-support to collect support bundles without collect specific manifests.

For example, to generate a vCenter support bundle without collect vCHA related log files:

#vc-support -e ‘‘VirtualAppliance:VchaLogs VirtualAppliance:VchaPeerBundles’

Run this command to export the logs to /storage/core in case other filesystem do not have enough space

#vc-support -e ‘VirtualAppliance:VchaLogs VirtualAppliance:VchaPeerBundles’ -w /storage/core

 

Additional Information

All vc-support manifests and their default states, per vCSA 7.0 U3c

 

# vc-support --listmanifests

Manifest Name                   Enabled

CloudInfrastructure:ESXAgentManager     True

CloudInfrastructure:LookupSvc      True

CloudInfrastructure:SPS            True

CloudInfrastructure:ServiceControlAgent     True

CloudInfrastructure:VMware-CertificateAuthority     True

CloudInfrastructure:VMware-CertificateManagement     True

CloudInfrastructure:VMware-TrustManagement     True

CloudInfrastructure:VMware-topologysvc     True

CloudInfrastructure:VMwareCamService     True

CloudInfrastructure:VMwareCertificateService     True

CloudInfrastructure:VMwareDirectoryService     True

CloudInfrastructure:VServiceManager     True

VirtualAppliance:AnalyticsService     True

VirtualAppliance:ApplianceManagement     True

VirtualAppliance:AutoDeploy        True

VirtualAppliance:BackupRestore     True

VirtualAppliance:BigSisterData     True

VirtualAppliance:CLS               True

VirtualAppliance:CisLicenseService     True

VirtualAppliance:CisUpgradeRunner     True

VirtualAppliance:CloudVM-PerfMon     True

VirtualAppliance:DeploymentApi     True

VirtualAppliance:Envoy             True

VirtualAppliance:ImageBuilder      True

VirtualAppliance:NetDump           True

VirtualAppliance:Observability     True

VirtualAppliance:Perfcharts        True

VirtualAppliance:Pod               True

VirtualAppliance:Postgres          True

VirtualAppliance:PostgresExtra    False

VirtualAppliance:Rhttpproxy        True

VirtualAppliance:SystemConfig      True

VirtualAppliance:SystemInfo        True

VirtualAppliance:SystemLogs        True

VirtualAppliance:SystemLogs        True

VirtualAppliance:TlsReconfiguratorLogs     True

VirtualAppliance:UpdateManager     True

VirtualAppliance:VLFInfo           True

VirtualAppliance:VMware-Infraprofile     True

VirtualAppliance:VMware-vCenter-Services     True

VirtualAppliance:VSANPerfSvc      False

VirtualAppliance:Vapi              True

VirtualAppliance:VchaConfig        True

VirtualAppliance:VchaLogs          True

VirtualAppliance:VchaPeerBundles     True

VirtualAppliance:Vdtc              True

VirtualAppliance:Vmon              True

VirtualAppliance:VpxdCfg           True

VirtualAppliance:VpxdCmds          True

VirtualAppliance:VpxdCore         False

VirtualAppliance:VpxdDb           False

VirtualAppliance:VpxdLogs          True

VirtualAppliance:VsanHealth        True

VirtualAppliance:VsanHealthService     True

VirtualAppliance:VsanObfuscatedHealthService    False

VirtualAppliance:VsanVpObfuscatedLogs    False

VirtualAppliance:VsanVpxdObfuscatedLogs    False

VirtualAppliance:hvc               True

VirtualAppliance:statsmonitor      True

VirtualAppliance:vLCM              True

VirtualAppliance:vmidentity        True

VirtualAppliance:vmware-snmpd      True

VirtualAppliance:vsphere-ui        True

VirtualAppliance:vstats            True

VirtualAppliance:vtsdb             True

VirtualAppliance:wcpsvc            True