Monitoring and Auditing DRS Automation Level Changes in vpxd Logs

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Monitoring changes to DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) automation levels is essential for ensuring that cluster behavior aligns with operational policies.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x

Cause

In some cases, troubleshooting or audits may require knowing when DRS settings changed and what their previous automation levels were.

Resolution

• To monitor DRS automation level changes, review the vpxd.log for entries containing the relevant string, which records each change along with the current automation level.

2025-09-24T01:27:11.153Z info vpxd[12913] [Originator@6876 sub=drmLogger opID=cell-#########-####-####-####-############-##] DRS automation level of cluster [vim.ClusterComputeResource:domain-1234,CLUSTERNAME] is manual

• The previous automation level will be available from the preceding drmLogger entry for DRS automation level