The /storage/log folder becomes 100% full when exporting vCenter log bundle

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 6.0
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• The /storage/log partition reaches 100% capacity when generating a vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) log bundle.
  
  
• Accessing the vCenter Server UI fails with a "503 Service Unavailable" or "no healthy upstream" error.
  
  
• vCenter management tasks, such as virtual machine vMotions, are paused or fail to execute.
  
  
• To verify the partition space usage, connect to the vCenter Server via an SSH session, login as the root user and run the following command:

df -h 

Sample output indicating that the /storage/log partition is fully consumed:

Filesystem              Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/log_vg-log  9.9G  9.9G    0G 100% /storage/log

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 6.x
• VMware vCenter Server 7.x
• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

Support log bundles in the vCenter Server log directory are consuming excessive space, causing the /storage/log partition to fill up.

Resolution

Take an offline (powered off) snapshot of the vCenter Server before proceeding with any data removal. Review the following articles for snapshot best practices: Snapshot Best practices for vCenter Server Virtual Machines and VMware vCenter in Enhanced Linked Mode pre-changes snapshot (online or offline) best practice.

1. Locate the existing log bundles. By default, vCenter log bundles use the naming convention vc-support-<vc_name>-<date&time>.tgz. Run the following command to search for these files:
   find /storage/log/ -iname "*.tgz"
   
   
2. Navigate to the directory containing the log bundles:
   cd /storage/log/
   
   
3. Delete the identified log bundles to free up space:
   rm <filename>.tgz
   
   
4. Restart the vCenter Server services to clear any hung processes and restore normal operations:
   service-control --stop --all && service-control --start --all

Additional Information

vCenter log disk exhaustion or /storage/log full