VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 hostd logs sent to an external syslog collector have a timestamp of: NoneZ

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
When VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 is configured to use an external syslog collector, the following is observed:

• The hostd.log data has a timestamp of NoneZ
• When using tcpdump to view the TCP traffic between the host and syslog collector, observed traffic is similar to:

Msg: NoneZ esxi_host_fqdn Hostd: <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> info hostd[598C1B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc opID=053f2ca4-2d0f-499d-a7aa-71c8f6fe164b-3566-ngc-e4-5e-c8-620c user=vpxuser] VsanSystemVmkProvider : GetRuntimeInfo: Complete, runtime info: (vim.vsan.host.VsanRuntimeInfo)</time>

• The corresponding /var/log/hostd.log file contains the correct timestamp data
  
  For example:
  
  <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> info hostd[598C1B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc opID=053f2ca4-2d0f-499d-a7aa-71c8f6fe164b-3566-ngc-e4-5e-c8-620c user=vpxuser] VsanSystemVmkProvider : GetRuntimeInfo: Complete, runtime info: (vim.vsan.host.VsanRuntimeInfo)</time>

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

Resolution

This is a known issue affecting VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0.

 

This issue is resolved in ESXi 6.0.0b. Download the latest version from support.broadcom.com.

 

To work around this issue, add the useOldLogPrefix line to the /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml file.

 

To add the useOldLogPrefix line to the /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml file:

1. Connect to the ESXi host as root though an SSH or console session.
2. Run this command to backup the /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml file:
   
   cp /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml.orig
    
3. Using a text editor, open the /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml file and locate this section:
   
   <log>
   
   <directory>/var/log/vmware/</directory>
   
   <name>hostd</name>
   ...
    
4. Add the line <useOldLogPrefix>true</useOldLogPrefix> below the <log> header.
   
   For example:
   
   <log>
   <useOldLogPrefix>true</useOldLogPrefix>
   
   <directory>/var/log/vmware/</directory>
   
   <name>hostd</name>
   ...
    
5. Save the file.
6. Run this command to restart the syslogd service:
   
   esxcli system syslog reload

 

Additional Information

ESXi 上での syslog の構成