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Collecting diagnostic information for VirtualCenter 1.3.1 and 1.4

Details

VMware Technical Support routinely requests diagnostic information from you when a support request is handled. This diagnostic information contains product specific logs and configuration files from the host on which the product is run. The information is gathered using a specific script or tool for each product.
 
This article provides procedures for collecting diagnostic information for VMware VirtualCenter 1.3.1 and 1.4 only. Instructions for collecting diagnostic information for other VMware products are available in Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products (1008524).
 
The diagnostic information collected can then be uploaded to VMware Technical Support. To uniquely identify your information, use the Support Request (SR) number you received when you opened your Support Request.

Solution

The way to collect log files in VirtualCenter 1.3.1 or 1.4 has changed. The new script collects log files for both VirtualCenter client and server. You no longer have to collect the files by hand, except for the Event Viewer log.

The attached zip file contains the script vclogs.wsf. This script collects log files and saves them to a directory in the location where the script is run. The naming convention for the directory is VirtualCenterLogs-[USER]-[DATE]. After collecting the files, archive the directory and send the file to support, using the method your support representative requests (usually FTP upload).

The script uses the following Windows user and system environment variables on your VirtualCenter client or server host to determine where the log files are located.

Environment Typical Directory Location Find Files
%WINDIR%\temp\ C:\WINDOWS\temp\ vmware-vpxd-SYSTEM*
vmware-vmount.log
%TMP% C:\DOCUME~1\\LOCALS~1\Temp vmware-vpxd-*
vmware-vmount.log
vmware-[USER]-*
client-*
%TEMP% C:\DOCUME~1\\LOCALS~1\Temp vmmsi.log
vminst.log
%ALLUSERSPROFILE% C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\ config.ini
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMA\ C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\VMA\  vmware-vmount.log
vmaConfig.xml
vma-*"

For VirtualCenter Client, log on to the machine running VirtualCenter Client, using the same login as the user who encountered the error, and open a command prompt window.

For VirtualCenter Server, log on to the machine running VirtualCenter Server, using a local Windows administrator account, and open a command prompt window.

  1. Change to the directory where VirtualCenter is installed. For example, if the default installation directory was used, run the command:

    cd c:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\

  2. Run the following command to collect the logs:

    cscript vclogs.wsf

    Here is an example of the command run with options:

    cscript vclogs.wsf /n:all /o:vclog

    Options:

    /? - Displays help for this script.
    /n:N or /n:all - Number of log files to collect (replace N with the actual number). The default value is 10. Specify all to collect all logs.
    /o:dir - Output directory (replace dir with your directory). The default is VirtualCenterLogs-username-date.

  3. Locate and provide the Event Viewer log files from the VirtualCenter server.
    1. Log on as a user with VirtualCenter Administrator privileges.
    2. Export the files in the default Event Viewer format with .evt extensions.

  4. Compress and archive the Event Viewer log files and output directory as a .zip file. Incorporate a timestamp into the .zip file name.

MD5 Checksum for vclogs.zip

67da6d0c590a52a8f466ced77710f73c

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1935
  • Updated: Sep 1, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware VirtualCenter
  • Product Versions:
    VMware VirtualCenter 1.3.x
    VMware VirtualCenter 1.4.x