Location of ESX 3.0-4.1 log files

VMware vSphere ESXi

This article provides the default location of the most common ESX log files.

VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x

Logs on an ESX host can be reviewed from:

The Service Console command line. For more information, see the System Log Files section of the Datacenter Administration Guide.
The vSphere Client or Infrastructure Client connected directly to the ESX host. Select System Logs under Administration.
Using PowerCLI. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware vSphere vCenter Server and ESX/ESXi using the vSphere PowerCLI (1027932).
Using a web browser at https://HostnameOrIPAddress/host. For more information, see the HTTP Access to vSphere Server Files section of the vSphere Web Services SDK documentation.
Within an extracted vm-support log bundle. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESX/ESXi using the vSphere Client (653) or Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESX/ESXi using the vm-support command (1010705).
Using the vifs command line utility in the vCLI. For more information, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface documentation.

/var/log/vmkernel – Core VMkernel logs, including device discovery, storage and networking device and driver events, and virtual machine startup.
/var/log/vmkwarning – Summary of Warning and Alert log messages excerpted from the VMkernel logs.
/var/log/vmksummary – Summary of ESX host startup and shutdown, and an hourly heartbeat with uptime, number of virtual machines running, and service console resource consumption.
/var/log/messages – Messages from the Service Console Linux kernel, including service startup and shutdown.
/var/log/vmware/hostd.log – Host management service logs, including virtual machine and host Tasks and Events, communication with the vSphere Client and vCenter Server vpxa agent, and SDK connections.
/var/log/boot-logs/sysboot.log – Early VMkernel startup, module loading, and host initialization.
/var/log/vmkiscsid.log – Software iSCSI Client logs.

When an ESX host is managed by vCenter Server or VirtualCenter Server, two components are installed, each with its own logs:

/var/log/vmware/vpx/vpxa.log – vCenter Server vpxa agent logs, including communication with vCenter Server and the Host Management hostd agent.
VMware High Availability logs:
- If managed by vCenter Server 5.0 or later – /var/log/vmware/fdm/*
- If managed by vCenter Server 4.1 or earlier – /var/log/vmware/aam/*

For related information, see the main article in this series, Location of log files for VMware products (1021806).