Collecting limited and specific information from vm-support using manifests

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article will describe how to collect product-specific or area-specific vm-support bundles using the UI, the CLI and a web browser.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Resolution

By default, the vm-support process will collect information about all ESXi systems - network, storage, vSAN, OS, etc. This collection can be restricted to specific areas of interest through the use of vm-support "manifests." This can be useful if the vm-support process fails in certain areas or in the event of host instability, as less data is collected and restricting vm-support collection via manifests may improve vm-support collection success. This can be done via the UI, the CLI or a web browser. Each method will be discussed below.

vSphere Client

1. The first part of this process is identical to Collecting diagnostic information for ESXi hosts and vCenter Server using the vSphere Client
2. In the final step, deselect any undesired manifests and choose to collect only what is desired. For example, vSAN-specific information can be collected, excluding all others:
   

Host CLI

1. Log into the host via local console or SSH
2. Obtain a list of available manifests (or see the "Additional Information" section)
   # vm-support --listmanifests
3. Identify the manifests you wish to collect (e.g., 'Storage:vSAN')
4. Run vm-support to collect only those manifests.
   For example, to collect vSAN and network information:
   # vm-support -a "Storage:VSAN Network:base Network:dvs"
   NOTE: All other vm-support conventions apply!

Web Browser
The vm-support facility is also available via the ESXi CGI web server. vm-support can be called via an explicit URL. Specific manifests can also be specified to override the default collection.

1. Open a web browser
2. To collect a normal vm-support via this method, navigate to:
   https:///cgi-bin/vm-support.cgi
   NOTE: You will be prompted to authenticate. Please provide the ESXi root credentials.
3. To collect specific manifests, we must specify those explicitly. To collect the vSAN and network manifests, for example:
   https://<ESXi_IP_or_hostname>/cgi-bin/vm-support.cgi?manifests=Storage:vSAN%20Network:base%20Network:dvs/
   Note: This may take some time to load.

Additional Information

All vm-support manifests and their default states, per ESXi 6.0/U2:

Manifest Name	Enabled by default?
ActiveDirectory:base	TRUE
CIM:base	TRUE
Configuration:System	TRUE
Core:RDMA	TRUE
CrashDumps:userworld	TRUE
FaultTolerance:Base	TRUE
FileSystem:VMFSDiskDump	TRUE
FileSystem:base	TRUE
FileSystem:vmfsheader	FALSE
Hardware:base	TRUE
Hardware:usb	TRUE
HungVM:Coredump_VM	FALSE
HungVM:Send_NMI_To_Guest	FALSE
HungVM:Suspend_VM	FALSE
Installer:base	TRUE
IntegrityChecks:md5sums	TRUE
Logs:System	TRUE
Network:base	TRUE
Network:dvs	TRUE
Network:lacp	TRUE
Network:nscd	TRUE
Network:tcpip	TRUE
PerformanceSnapshot:performance-end	FALSE
PerformanceSnapshot:performance-start	FALSE
Storage:FCoE	TRUE
Storage:Multipathing	TRUE
Storage:NAS	TRUE
Storage:vSAN	TRUE
Storage:vSANHealth	TRUE
Storage:vSANMinimal	FALSE
Storage:vSANPerfStats	FALSE
Storage:vSANPerfSvc	TRUE
Storage:vSANTraces	FALSE
Storage:VVOL	TRUE
Storage:base	TRUE
Storage:iodm	TRUE
Storage:iscsi	TRUE
System:Base	TRUE
System:BaseMinmal	FALSE
System:EsxImage	TRUE
System:IOFilter	TRUE
System:Modules	TRUE
System:ResourceGroups	TRUE
System:VFlash	TRUE
System:VMKernel	TRUE
System:VMKernel_Cores	TRUE
System:VMKernel_Old_Cores	FALSE
System:VMKernel_Stdout_Cores	FALSE
System:VmiofPlugins	TRUE
System:ntp	TRUE
Testing:test-esx-logs	FALSE
Userworld:FDM	TRUE
Userworld:HostAgent	TRUE
Userworld:ProcessInformation	TRUE
VirtualMachines:GuestState	FALSE
VirtualMachines:SnapshotsAndMemoryImages	FALSE
VirtualMachines:VirtualMachineStats	TRUE
VirtualMachines:base	TRUE
VirtualMachines:corefiles	TRUE
VirtualMachines:diskinfo	TRUE
VirtualMachines:logs	TRUE
VirtualMachines:sidecarfiles	FALSE
hostProfiles:SystemImageCacheHostProfile	TRUE
hostProfiles:hostProfiles	TRUE

Collecting diagnostic information for ESXi hosts and vCenter Server using the vSphere Client