After upgrading the VMware vCenter Server Appliance from version 5.5 to 6.0, logs are no longer forwarded to a remote syslog server

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

If you configured a vCenter Server Appliance 5.x to send log files to a third-party Syslog target and then upgraded to version 6.0, log files stop being forwarded after the upgrade.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Resolution

Restart the vmware-syslog and vmware-syslog-health services after the upgrade to enable redirection of log files to previously configured Syslog target. You can use the vSphere Web Client or the vCenter Server Appliance console.

To restart the service through the vSphere Web Client:

1. Log in to the vSphere Web Client with a vCenter Single Sign-On administrator account.
2. On the vSphere Web Client Home page, under Administration, click System Configuration.
3. Under System Configuration, click Services.
4. In the services list, right-click the VMware Syslog Service and click Restart.

Restart through the vCenter Server Appliance console

1. Log in as root through an SSH or console session on the vCenter Server Appliance.
2. Run the following commands:
   
   service vmware-syslog restart
   service vmware-syslog-health restart

After the services restart, verify that log files are forwarded to the configured remote syslog target.