In DCUI Console, under system logs you will find 6 logs as listed below.
- Syslog.log
- Vmkernal.log
- Config (sysboot.log)
- Management Agent (hostd.log)
- Virutalcenter agent (vpxa.log)
- Vmware esxi observation log (vobd)
Syslog.log
Syslog.log holds logs for Management service initialization, watchdogs, scheduled tasks and DCUI use.
We can view this log at https://<ESXi FQDN or IP>/host/syslog.log
This log includes Core VMkernel logs, including device discovery, storage and networking device and driver events, and virtual machine startup.
The VMkernel provides basic operating system services needed to support virtualization: hardware abstraction, hardware drivers, scheduler, memory allocator, filesystem (vmfs), and virtual machine monitor (vmm).
We can view this log at https://<ESXi FQDN or IP>/host/vmkernel.log
Config (sysboot.log)
This log includes VMkernel startup and module loading.
We can view this log at https://<ESXi FQDN or IP>/host/sysboot.log
Management Agent (hostd.log)
Host management service logs, including virtual machine and host Task and Events, communication with the vSphere Client and vCenter Server vpxa agent, and SDK connections.
It knows about all the VMs that are registered on that host, the luns/vmfs volumes visible by the host, what the VMs are doing, etc.
We can view this log at https://<ESXi FQDN or IP>/host/hostd.log
Virtualcenter agent (vpxa.log)
vCenter Server vpxa agent logs, including communication with vCenter Server and the Host Management hostd agent
Vpxa runs if you are connected to a vCenter server. Standalone esxi will not use it. It acts as an intermediary between vpxd on vCenter server and hostd on ESXi.
We can view this log at https://<ESXi FQDN or IP>/host/vpxa.log
Vmware esxi observation log (vobd)
VMkernel Observation events, similar to vob.component.event. Also contains logs for failed login attempts.
We can view thi log at https://<ESXi FQDN or IP>/host/vobd.log
Steps to view ESXi Logs from DCUI:
- Go to your DCUI , which is the console, and logon. You will have to press F2 to get this
- Enter the credentials and hit enter
- Go down to view system logs.
- On the right side you will see the different logs you can browse.
Press digits in front of log types like press 1 to view the syslog. It will bring up syslogs.
For more help on navigation options in DCUI screen, do refer VMware blog.
hmmmm
Thanks for adding these points.
Another cool trick to add, is if you are on the local console or out-of-band BMC (KVM) on the DCUI, you can hit ALT-F12 and see the active VMK log. Just as ALT-F1 gets you the local shell (if enabled in the troubleshooting options of DCUI), ALT-F2 brings you back to the DCUI, and ALT-F11 brings you to the boot up progress indicator (which automatically switches to ALT-F2 when boot completes). I find say sometimes when it is booting, I can switch to ALT-F12 and watch it logging events right up to the point before a PSOD comes or something to that effect. Even on reboot you can switch to ALT-F12 and watch it shutting down everything live… Handy sometimes..