I really could have done with this information when i had An error occurred during configuration of the HA Agent on the host rather than having to trawl through loads of discussions on the VMware Communities.

There are now two really useful documents which can be found at the VIOPS website, one is called ESX 3 Server Log Map and the other is VirtualCentre 2 Logs. These documents contain all the information you need to know about VMware ESX 3.* and vCenter 2.* log files and their locations.

VMware ESX 3.* Logfile Locations

HyperVisor Logs

• vmkernal – /var/log/vmkernal
• vmkwarning – /var/log/vmkwarning
• vmksummary – /var/log/vmksummary

Management Logs

• hostd – /var/log/vmware/hostd.log
• vpxa – /var/log/vmware/vpxa.log
• HA – /var/log/vmware/aam

Console OS (COS) Logs

• COS – /var/log/messages
• esxupdate – /var/log/vmware/esxupdate.log
• boot – /var/log/vmware/esxcfg-boot.log
• webAccess – /var/log/vmware/webAcess
• firewall – /var/log/vmware/esxcfg-firewall.log
• secure – /var/log/secure

VMware Virtual Center 2.* Logfile Locations

• vCenter – C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs
• Tomcat – C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\tomcat\logs
• Capacity Planner – C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Capacity Planner\Logs
• Update Manager – C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Update Manager\Logs
• Converter – C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter Enterprise\Logs
• Licence Manager – C:\Temp\imgrd.log

More in-depth details about each logfile is available in the VIOPS documentation.

Eric Gray from the VCritical Blog has also pointed me to a great presentation that he presented at VMworld 2006. Its titled vCenter 2 Diagnostics and contains lots of in-depth information and tips about Log collecting and ways to anaylize them.

You can download the presntation here or from the VMworld Website.

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