How to find the Timestamps of the Hosts that are added/removed to or from the vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• This KB provides the steps to find the Timestamps of the Hosts that are added/removed to or  from the vCenter

Environment

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

Resolution

1. SSH into the vCenter 
2. Go to the vpxd directory
   
   

   cd /var/log/vmware/vpxd/

3. Look for the keywords 'Add_host' and 'Remove_host'
   
   

   root@### [ /var/log/vmware/vpxd ]# less vpxd.log | grep -i 'Add_host'
   root@### [ /var/log/vmware/vpxd ]# less vpxd.log | grep -i 'Remove_host'

   The sample output will look similar to the example below: 
   
   

   root@##### [ /var/log/vmware/vpxd ]# less vpxd.log | grep -i 'Add_host'
   ####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z info vpxd[143662] [Originator@6876 sub=MoCluster opID=m796eqpp-#####-auto-5kyv-h5:######-f9] Dispatching cluster store membership request; {0000######c20, ADD_HOST, domain-c9, [vim.HostSystem:host-12,example.com], attempt: 1}
   ####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z info vpxd[143549] [Originator@6876 sub=MoCluster opID=CSMM-domain-c#-#### req=00007ff34414fc20] Cluster store membership request completed; {0000#######fc20, ADD_HOST, domain-c9, [vim.HostSystem:host-12,example.com], attempt: 1}, e: (null)
   
    
   
   
   root@##### [ /var/log/vmware/vpxd ]# less vpxd.log | grep -i 'Remove_host'
   ####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z info vpxd[143549] [Originator@6876 sub=MoCluster opID=m796eqpp-2#####-auto-5ktb-h5:######-45] Dispatching cluster store membership request; {0000######550, REMOVE_HOST, domain-c9, [vim.HostSystem:host-12,example.com], attempt: 1}
   ####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z info vpxd[143612] [Originator@6876 sub=MoCluster opID=CSMM-domain-c9-58249 req=00007ff3cc045550] Cluster store membership request completed; {0000#####550, REMOVE_HOST, domain-c9, [vim.HostSystem:host-12,example.com], attempt: 1}, e: (null)
   root@####[ /var/log/vmware/vpxd ]#

   Note:example.com is the name (FQDN) of the ESXI Host that has been added and removed from the vCenter in the above output