How to configure the ESXi Dump Collector service in a VMware Cloud Foundation environment

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VMware Cloud Foundation VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

This article provides steps to configure the ESXi Dump Collector service in a VMware Cloud Foundation environment.

VMware Cloud Foundation 2.0.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware Cloud Foundation 2.1.x

To configure the ESXi Dump Collector service in a VMware Cloud Foundation environment:

Log in to the vCenter Server for the management Workload Domain as a use with administrative privileges.
Navigate to the Administration page and then choose System Configuration.
Click on Services.
Right-click on VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector (rack-1-vc-1) and click Edit Startup Type.
Select Automatic and click the OK button.
Right-click on VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector (<VC Name>) and click Start.

Note: If multiple Workload Domains are deployed, there will be a corresponding instance of the VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collect service for each vCenter Server.
Log in the first ESXi host in the management Workload Domain as the root user at the console or via SSH.
Run this command to configure the ESXi host to send core dumps to the vCenter Server:

esxcli system coredump network set --interface-name <vmk#> --server-ipv4 <VC IP> --server-port 6500

Note: Replace <vmk#> with the vmkernel interface configured on the same network as the vCenter Server. The esxcfg-vmknics -l command can be used to display the configured vmkernel interfaces.

Note: Replace <VC IP> with the IP address of the vCenter Server.
Run this command to enable and save the network coredump settings:

esxcli system coredump network set --enable true
/sbin/auto-backup.sh
Repeat steps seven through nine on the other ESXi hosts in the management Workload Domain.

Note: These steps can be repeated in their entirety on the vCenter Servers and ESXi hosts that are associated with other Workload Domains.

Run these commands to verify that the network dump collector settings are saved and that the VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector service is listening:

esxcli system coredump network get

You see output similar to:

Enabled: true
Host VNic: vmk1
Is Using IPv6: false
Network Server IP: 192.168.16.6
Network Server Port: 6500
esxcli system coredump network check

You see output similar to:

Verified the configured netdump server is running

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