“vm-support” command in ESX/ESXi to collect diagnostic information

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

VMware Technical Support routinely requests diagnostic information from you when a support request is handled. This diagnostic information contains product specific logs, configuration files, and data appropriate to the situation. The information is gathered using a specific script or tool for each product and can include a host support bundle from the ESXi host and vCenter Server support bundle. Data collected in a host support bundle may be considered sensitive. Additionally, as of vSphere 6.5, support bundles can include encrypted information from an ESXi host.
For more information on what information is included in the support bundles, see Data collected when gathering diagnostic information from vSphere products (2147388).

This article provides procedures for obtaining diagnostic information for a Mware ESXi/ESX host using the vm-support command line utility.
For other methods of collecting the same information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESXi/ESX using the vSphere Client (653) and Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESXi/ESX using the vSphere PowerCLI (1027932).

The diagnostic information obtained by using this article is uploaded to VMware Technical Support. To uniquely identify your information, use the Support Request (SR) number you receive when you create the new SR.

For information on opening a support request, see Creating and managing Broadcom support cases.
For information on uploading your support files, see Uploading files to cases on the Broadcom Support Portal.
For information on obtaining diagnostic information for other VMware products, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products (1008524).

Environment

VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX Server 2.5.x
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x

Resolution

The command-line vm-support utility is present on all versions of VMware ESXi/ESX, though some of the options available with the utility differ among versions.

Running vm-support in a console session on ESXi/ESX hosts

The traditional way of using the vm-support command-line utility produces a gzipped tarball (.tgz file) locally on the host. The resulting file can be copied off the host using FTP, SCP, or another method.

Open a console to the ESX or ESXi host.

For more information, see

Unable to connect to an ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH) (1003807),

Run the command:
vm-support
Note: Additional options can be specified to customize the log bundle collection. Use the vm-support -h command for a list of options available on a given version of ESXi/ESX.
To export the log bundle to a specific shared vmfs datastore, use this command:

vm-support -w /vmfs/volumes/DATASTORE_NAME

If target archive directory is not explicitly set using "-w" option, vm-support will select a VMFS or VFFS partition with accessibility and the highest available free space for storing the vm-support bundle(compressed file with .tgz extension). It could be one of these locations:

/var/tmp/
/var/log/
The current working directory
A VMFS or VFFS partition

The log bundle is collected and downloaded to a client, upload the logs to the SFTP/FTP site.

For more information, see Uploading files to cases on the Broadcom Support Portal.

Streaming vm-support output from an ESXi 5.x and 6.0 host

Starting with ESXi 5.0, the vm-support command-line utility supports streaming content to the standard output. This allows to send the content over an SSH connection without saving anything locally on the ESXi host.

Enable SSH access to the ESXi shell. For more information, see Using ESXi Shell in ESXi.
Using a Linux or Posix client, such as the vSphere Management Assistant appliance, log in to the ESXi host and run the vm-support command with the streaming option enabled, specifying a new local file. A compressed bundle of logs is produced on the client at the specified location. For example:

ssh root@ESXHostnameOrIPAddress vm-support -s > vm-support-Hostname.tgz

Note: This requires you to enter a password for the root account, and cannot be used with lockdown mode.
You can also direct the support log bundle to a desired datastore location using the same command (mentioning the destination path). For example:

ssh root@ESXHostnameOrIPAddress 'vm-support -s > /vmfs/volumes/datastorexxx/vm-support-Hostname.tgz'
After the log bundle has been collected and downloaded to a client, upload the logs to the SFTP/FTP site.

For more information, see Uploading files to cases on the Broadcom Support Portal.

HTTP-based download of vm-support output from an ESXi 5.x and 6.0 host

Starting with ESXi 5.0, the vm-support command-line utility can be invoked via HTTP. This allows you to download content using a web browser or a command line tool like wget or curl.

Using any HTTP client, download the resource from:

https://ESXHostnameOrIPAddress/cgi-bin/vm-support.cgi

For example, download the resource using the wget utility on a Linux or other Posix client, such as the vSphere Management Assistant appliance. A compressed bundle of logs is produced on the client at the specified location:

wget https://10.11.12.13/cgi-bin/vm-support.cgi
After the log bundle is collected and downloaded to a client, upload the logs to the SFTP/FTP site. For more information, see Uploading files to cases on the Broadcom Support Portal.