Collecting diagnostic information for VMware Cloud Foundation

Products

VMware Cloud Foundation

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 VMware Cloud Foundation.

Resolution

You can collect diagnostic information for VMware Cloud Foundation from the VRM virtual machine in version 2.1.x or from the SDDC Manager Controller virtual machine in version 2.2+.

To collect the diagnostic information:

Log in to the VRM or SDDC Manager Controller virtual machine as the root user through SSH or console.

Note: This virtual machine can be identified in the vSphere Client (in the management cluster) by its name starting with vrm- or being SDDC Manager Controller.
Run this command to generate the diagnostic bundle:

/opt/vmware/evosddc-support/sos (for version 2.1.x)
/opt/vmware/sddc-support/sos (for version 2.2+ and 3.x)

Note: For version 3.x, only logs from components in the management workload domain are collected by default. Add the --domain-name <DOMAINNAME> switch to collect logs from other workload domains or --domain-name ALL to collect logs from all workload domains. Additionally, use the --skip-known-host-check switch to collect logs from all ESXi hosts in a workload domain.

Note: A progress indicator displays the overall progress and which logs have been collected. On completion, you see the output similar to:

For version 2.1.x:

Welcome to SoS log collection utility!

SoS initiated from VRM VM!
Logs: /var/tmp/sos-2017-01-12-16-29-36-30188
Log file: /var/tmp/sos-2017-01-12-16-29-36-30188/sos.log
Log collection completed successfully for : [ISVM-CASSANDRA, VIA, ISVM-ZOOKEPPER, PSC, NSX, HMS-ESX-NODE, ESX, VRM, HMS, vCenter Server, vROps, LOGINSIGHT]

For version 2.2+:

Welcome to Supportability and Serviceability(SoS) utility!
Logs : /var/tmp/sos-2018-01-19-15-33-09-8387
Log file : /var/tmp/sos-2018-01-19-15-33-09-8387/sos.log
Log collection completed successfully for : [AUDIT, VIA, SDDC-MANAGER, SDDC-CASSANDRA, PSC, AUDIT LOG, ZOOKEEPER, API-LOGS, ESX, NSX, SWITCH, LOGINSIGHT, HMS, VCENTER-SERVER, VDI]

For version 3.x:

Welcome to Supportability and Serviceability(SoS) utility!
Performing SoS operation for MGMT domain components
Logs : /var/log/vmware/vcf/sddc-support/sos-2018-11-27-15-18-31-101284
Log file : /var/log/vmware/vcf/sddc-support/sos-2018-11-27-15-18-31-101284/sos.log
Log Collection completed successfully for : [HEALTH-CHECK, SDDC-MANAGER, SDDC-CASSANDRA, NSX_MANAGER, PSC, API-LOGS, ESX, LOGINSIGHT, VMS_SCREENSHOT, VCENTER-SERVER]

Verify that a folder containing the exported diagnostic logs is present:

For 2.x versions: ls -ladh /var/tmp/sos*
For 3.x versions: ls -ladh /var/log/vmware/vcf/sddc-support/sos*

Note: Output similar to the following should be returned:

For 2.x versions: drwx------ 11 root root 4.0K Jan 19 15:42 /var/tmp/sos-2018-01-19-15-33-09-8387
For 3.x versions: drwx------ 10 root root 4.0K Nov 27 15:26 /var/log/vmware/vcf/sddc-support/sos-2018-11-27-15-18-31-101284

Use a file transfer utility to copy the resultant sos-<date> folder from the VRM or SDDC Manager Controller virtual machine to a system that can upload the file to VMware.

Note: date is the actual date when the file is generated.

Note: In version 2.2+ and 3.x, the --zip flag can be used with the /opt/vmware/sddc-support/sos command to create a compressed archive of the collected logs. In version 2.1.x, the tar command can be used against the /var/tmp/sos-<date> folder when the /opt/vmware/evosddc-support/sos command is completed.

Additional Information

For more information, see Uploading diagnostic information for VMware (1008525).

In the 2.x versions, a diagnostic bundle is generated by default after the initial imaging is completed and after each new workload domain is deployed. These log bundles are stored in /var/tmp/date/rack name/ on the SDDC Manager virtual machine.

Additional parameters can be passed to the sos command to limit which logs are collected or to redirect the the collected logs to a location other than /var/tmp:

/opt/vmware/sddc-support/sos -h will list all available options and their descriptions.

See How to download logs from the SDDC Manager VM or Cloud Foundation Builder VM in VMware Cloud Foundation 3.0 for information on how to transfer logs from the SDDC Manager VM in VMware Cloud Foundation 3.0.