Export events and tasks from postgres database of vCenter Server

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• This article outlines the steps to export vCenter events and tasks from vCenter database(VCDB).
• The operation only queries the database without performing any modifications.

Environment

vCenter Server 7.x
vCenter Server 8.x

Resolution

1) SSH to the vCenter Server and login as root.

2) Run the below command to export events and tasks from VCDB: 

/opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -d VCDB -c "COPY (select * from vpxv_events where create_time >= date_trunc('DAY',NOW()) - INTERVAL '7 DAYS') to '/tmp/vpxv_events.csv' DELIMITER ','CSV HEADER;COPY (select * from vpxv_event_arg where event_id in (select event_id from vpxv_events where create_time >= date_trunc('DAY',NOW()) - INTERVAL '7 DAYS')) to '/tmp/vpxv_event_arg.csv' DELIMITER ','CSV HEADER;COPY (select * from vpx_task where start_time >= date_trunc('DAY',NOW()) - INTERVAL '7 DAYS') to '/tmp/vpx_task.csv' DELIMITER ','CSV HEADER;";mkdir /var/log/vmware/tasks-events;mv /tmp/vpx_task.csv /var/log/vmware/tasks-events/tasks.csv;mv /tmp/vpxv_event_arg.csv /var/log/vmware/tasks-events/events.csv;echo 'Delete /var/log/vmware/task-events since this is a folder for support purposes only' > /var/log/vmware/tasks-events/readme.txt;date >> /var/log/vmware/tasks-events/readme.txt

The above command exports vCenter tasks and events from the past 7 days and stores them in the /var/log/vmware/tasks-events/ directory.