ESXi 5.0 Host Log Files
Logs for an ESXi 5.0 host are grouped according to the source component:
- /var/log/auth.log: ESXi Shell authentication success and failure.
- /var/log/dhclient.log: DHCP client service, including discovery, address lease requests and renewals.
- /var/log/esxupdate.log: ESXi patch and update installation logs.
- /var/log/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.
- /var/log/shell.log: ESXi Shell usage logs, including enable/disable and every command entered..
- /var/log/sysboot.log: Early VMkernel startup and module loading.
- /var/log/boot.gz : A compressed file that contains boot log information and can be read using zcat /var/log/boot.gz|more .
- /var/log/syslog.log: Management service initialization, watchdogs, scheduled tasks and DCUI use.
- /var/log/usb.log: USB device arbitration events, such as discovery and pass-through to virtual machines.
- /var/log/vobd.log: VMkernel Observation events, similar to vob.component.event.
Note: For clarification VOB and the corresponding service VOBD propagates kernel level errors to third-party applications. VOBD is a daemon that VMware and third-party applications use for monitoring and troubleshooting.
- /var/log/vmkernel.log: Core VMkernel logs, including device discovery, storage and networking device and driver events, and virtual machine startup.
- /var/log/vmkwarning.log: A summary of Warning and Alert log messages excerpted from the VMkernel logs.
- /var/log/vmksummary.log: A summary of ESXi host startup and shutdown, and an hourly heartbeat with uptime, number of virtual machines running, and service resource consumption.
- Note: For information on sending logs to another location such as a datastore or remote syslog server, see
Configuring syslog on ESXi 5.0 (2003322).
ESXi 5.1 Host Log Files
Logs for an ESXi 5.1 host are grouped according to the source component:
- /var/log/auth.log: ESXi Shell authentication success and failure.
- /var/log/dhclient.log: DHCP client service, including discovery, address lease requests and renewals.
- /var/log/esxupdate.log: ESXi patch and update installation logs.
- /var/log/lacp.log: Link Aggregation Control Protocol logs.
- /var/log/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.
- /var/log/hostd-probe.log: Host management service responsiveness checker.
- /var/log/rhttpproxy.log: HTTP connections proxied on behalf of other ESXi host webservices.
- /var/log/shell.log: ESXi Shell usage logs, including enable/disable and every command entered.
- /var/log/sysboot.log: Early VMkernel startup and module loading.
- /var/log/boot.gz: A compressed file that contains boot log information and can be read using zcat /var/log/boot.gz|more.
- /var/log/syslog.log: Management service initialization, watchdogs, scheduled tasks and DCUI use.
- /var/log/usb.log: USB device arbitration events, such as discovery and pass-through to virtual machines.
- /var/log/vobd.log: VMkernel Observation events, similar to vob.component.event.
- /var/log/vmkernel.log: Core VMkernel logs, including device discovery, storage and networking device and driver events, and virtual machine startup.
- /var/log/vmkwarning.log: A summary of Warning and Alert log messages excerpted from the VMkernel logs.
- /var/log/vmksummary.log: A summary of ESXi host startup and shutdown, and an hourly heartbeat with uptime, number of virtual machines running, and service resource consumption.
- /var/log/Xorg.log: Video acceleration.
Note: For information on sending logs to another location (such as a datastore or remote syslog server), see Configuring syslog on ESXi 5.0 (2003322).
Via: VMware KB: Location of ESXi 5.0 log files.
Via: VMware KB: Location of ESXi 5.1 and 5.5 log files.
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