Collecting diagnostic information for the VMware Database Management Essentials Snapshot Manager

Products

• VMware Data Services Manager

Issue/Introduction

VMware Technical Support routinely requests diagnostic information from you when a support request is handled. This diagnostic information contains product specific logs, configuration files, and data appropriate to the situation. The information is gathered using a specific script or tool for each product and can include a host support bundle from the ESXi host and vCenter Server support bundle. Data collected in a host support bundle may be considered sensitive. Additionally, as of vSphere 6.5, support bundles can include encrypted information from an ESXi host. For more information on what information is included in the support bundles, see Data collected when gathering diagnostic information from vSphere products.
 
This article provides procedures for obtaining diagnostic information for VMware Database Management Essentials (VDME) Snapshot Manager.

Environment

VMware Database Management Essentials 1.x

Resolution

Diagnostic information for the VDME Snapshot Manager can be retrieved using two different methods.

Please note that this appliance is deployed automatically during the onboarding process for RDS on VMware and the root password will be generated at that time. Therefore, the SSO credentials will be required unless specifically directed by technical support.

Method 1: Bundle generation and retrieval via the web interface

1. Using a web browser, access the snapshot manager UI on port 8044: https://<snapshot manager IP>:8044
2. Log in with the local root account or select SSO login from the dropdown menu and authenticate with an integrated SSO administrator account.
3. Select Support.
4. Click Generate New.
5. After the collection process has completed, click the bundle link to download the file.
6. The bundle can then be deleted from the UI, if it is no longer required.

Method 2: Bundle generation and retrieval via the API

1. Using the sessions operation, retrieve an authentication token provided in the X-VCAV-Auth response header. The local root user account or an SSO administrator account from the integrated SSO domain may be used. An example of the POST is provided below:
    
   curl -k -i -X POST https://<snapshot manager IP>:8044/sessions -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"type": "ssoCredentials", "username": "[email protected]", "password": "<password>"}'
    
2. A support bundle can then be generated using the bundles operation under diagnostics, similar to the following example:
    
   curl -k -X POST https://<snapshot manager IP>:8044/diagnostics/bundles -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-VCAV-Auth: <token>'
    
3. The bundles operation can then be used to list the bundles and confirm that the generation has been completed, as in the example below:
    
   curl -k -X GET https://<snapshot manager IP>:8044/diagnostics/bundles -H 'Accept: application/vnd.vmware.h4-v3+json;charset=UTF-8' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-VCAV-Auth: <token>'
    
4. The resulting bundle can then be retrieved using the bundle ID with the bundles operation, as demonstrated in the following example:
    
   curl -k -X GET https://<snapshot manager IP>:8044/diagnostics/bundles/<bundle ID> -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-VCAV-Auth: <token>' --output snapshot_mgr_bundle.tar
    
5. Finally, the bundle can be removed from the appliance, once it is no longer required. An example of the DELETE operations is illustrated below:
    
   curl -k -X DELETE https://<snapshot manager IP>:8044/diagnostics/bundles/<bundle ID> -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H 'X-VCAV-Auth: <token>'

Additional Information

 

• For additional details and examples for the API operations referenced, please review our developer portal: vCloud Availability API