Syslog facilities used for ESXi log transfer

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information about the facilities used for ESXi syslog transfer.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Resolution

When ESXi forwards logs to a remote syslog server, it uses the following facilities:

• local6: Used for the VMkernel log (vmkernel.log).

• local4: Used for primary ESXi management service logs (e.g., hostd.log, vpxa.log, fdm.log).

Note: Standard syslog facilities, such as kern and user, are also utilized by other ESXi services.