There are four options you can use to change virtual machine logging and log rotation behaviors:
Notes:
The logging setting
The logging setting allows you to turn logging on or off.
To turn logging to off, enter logging=false in the virtual machines .vmx file. To turn logging back on, change logging=false to logging=true.
The log.rotateSize setting
By default, the virtual machine log file
vmware.log is rotated as a result of the virtual machine's Power On or Power Off operation.
To configure log rotation based on file size, include this option in the virtual machines .vmx file:
log.rotateSize = maximum size in bytes the file can grow toThis example specifies the
vmware.log file to be rotated when its size reaches 182 kilobytes:
log.rotateSize = 186368Note:
log.rotateSize is not available for
vmx use in certain versions of ESXi 5.1 and 5.5. Adding this option in the virtual machine configuration file (
.vmx) file does not have any effect. For more information, see the
Security section of the
vSphere 5.1 Update 3 Release Notes.
The log.keepOld setting
By default, all versions of ESX and ESXi from 3.0 through 6.0 keep 6 rotations of the
vmware.log file
vmware.log,
vmware-1.log,
vmware-2.log, ... etc.
To change the level of rotation, use the log.keepOld option in the virtual machines .vmx file.
This example specifies the level of rotation to be 10:
log.keepOld = 10
The log.fileName setting
To specify an alternative location or filename for virtual machine logging, use the
log.fileName option in the virtual machines
.vmx file.
This example specifies myVMlog as the new file for logs instead of the default vmware.log:
log.fileName = myVMlog
This example directs logs to be written to an alternate directory called myVM in a different VMFS volume, vol1:
log.fileName = /vmfs/volumes/vol1/myVM/myVM.log
Additional Information
For translated versions of this article, see: