How to change ESXi log rotation parameters

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to change the number of logs per rotation and the size of the log file before it rotates.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.X
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.X

Resolution

To increase the number of logs per rotation and the size of the log file before it rotates using esxcli:

1. Open an SSH session to the ESXi host. 
2. List current log files kinds and rotate parameters:
   esxcli system syslog config logger list
3. Modify the log rotate parameters (The --rotate parameter defines the number of log files to be saved, and the --size parameter defines the size of the log file):
   esxcli system syslog config logger set --id=<logger_name> --rotate=15 --size=10240
   For example:
   Modify the vmkernel log rotate parameters:
   esxcli system syslog config logger set --id=vmkernel --rotate=15 --size=10240
   Modify the hostd log rotate parameters:
   esxcli system syslog config logger set --id=hostd --rotate=15 --size=10240
4. Run 'esxcli system syslog reload' to apply the new configuration changes.