View & Export events from vSphere Web Client
To see a list of all events in the system, select Monitor > Event Console from the Console Launcher.
To see a list of events associated with a selected inventory object and its child objects, perform the following actions:
1. Open the vCenter Management console.
2. Select an inventory object.
3. Select the Monitor tab.
4. Click Events.
At least I was not able to locate any filtering facility in web client. Though it mentions on pg.108 that it is available there.
How to export logs from vSphere Web Client
Switch console views to the Event Console view and click Export.
Working with Tasks and Events
Managing Tasks
Tasks represent system activities that do not complete immediately, such as migrating a virtual machine. They are initiated by high-level activities that you perform with the vSphere Client in real time and activities that you schedule to occur at a later time or on a recurring basis.
For example, powering off a virtual machine is a task. You can perform this task manually every evening, or you can set up a scheduled task to power off the virtual machine every evening for you.
NOTE The functionality available in the vSphere Client depends on whether the vSphere Client is connected to a vCenter Server system or an ESXi host. When the vSphere Client is connected directly to a host, the Tasks & Events tab is labeled Events.
Viewing Tasks
You can view tasks that are associated with a single object or all objects in the vSphere Client inventory. The Tasks & Events tab lists completed tasks and tasks that are currently running. By default, the tasks list for an object also includes tasks performed on its child objects. You can filter the list by removing tasks performed on child objects and by using keywords to search for tasks.
If you are logged in to a vCenter Server system that is part of a Connected Group, a column in the task list displays the name of the vCenter Server system on which the task was performed.
Filter Tasks for a Host or Datacenter
Filtering the task list removes tasks performed on child objects.
Procedure
1. Select the host or datacenter in the inventory and click the Tasks & Events tab.
2. In View, click Tasks to display the tasks list.
3. If the Show all entries list and the search field are not displayed under the Tasks and Events buttons, select View > Filtering.
4. Click Show all entries and select Show host entries or Show datacenter entries, depending on the object selected.
Use Keywords to Filter the Tasks List
You can filter the tasks list based on any task attribute, including task name, target, status, initiator, change history, and time. Filtering is inclusive, not exclusive. If the keyword is found in any of the selected columns the task is included in the filtered list.
Collect vSphere Log Files
Download the log bundle from vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server system.
Select Administration > Export System Logs to download the log bundle.
The log bundle is generated as a .zip file. By default, the vpxd logs within the bundle are compressed as .gz files. You must use gunzip to uncompress these files.
Generate vCenter Server log bundles from a vCenter Server system
Select Start > Programs > VMware > Generate vCenter Server log bundle.
You can use this to generate vCenter Server log bundles even when you are unable to connect to the vCenter Server using the vSphere Client. The log bundle is generated as a .zip file. By default, the vpxd logs within the bundle are compressed as .gz files. You must use gunzip to uncompress these files.
You can turn off this setting to leave the vpxd logs uncompressed.
1. Log in to the vCenter Server using the vSphere Client.
2. Select Administration > vCenter Server Settings.
3. Select Advanced Settings.
4. In the Key text box, type log.compressOnRoll.
5. In the Value text box, type false.
6. Click Add, and click OK.
Collect ESXi Log Files
You can collect and package all relevant ESXi system and configuration information, a well as ESXi log files. This information can be used to analyze the problems.
Procedure
Run the following script on the ESXi Shell: /usr/bin/vm-support
The resulting file has the following format: esx-date-unique-xnumber.tgz
Configure Syslog on ESXi Hosts
All ESXi hosts run a syslog service (vmsyslogd), which logs messages from the VMkernel and other system components to log files. You can use the vSphere Client or the esxcli system syslog vCLI command to configure the syslog service.
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client inventory, select the host.
2. Click the Configuration tab.
3. In the Software panel, click Advanced Settings.
4. Select Syslog in the tree control.
5. To set up logging globally, click global and make changes to the fields on the right.
6. (Optional) To overwrite the default log size and log rotation for any of the logs.
a. Click loggers.
b. Click the name of the log you that want to customize and enter the number of rotations and log size you want.
7. Click OK. Changes to the syslog options take effect immediately.
Export System Log Files
When the vSphere Client is connected to vCenter Server, you can select hosts from which to download system log files. To save diagnostic data for ESXi hosts and vCenter Server, the vSphere Client must be connected to the vCenter Server system. If you are connected directly to an ESXi host, you can save diagnostic data only for that specific ESXi host.
Required privileges:
· To view diagnostic data: Read-Only User
· To manage diagnostic data: Global.Licenses
Procedure
1. Select File > Export > Export System Logs.
2. If you are connected to vCenter Server, select the object for which you want to export data.
Selecting an object selects all of its child objects.
3. If you are connected to vCenter Server, select Include information from vCenter Server and vSphere Client to download vCenter Server and vSphere Client log files and host log files, and click Next.
4. If the selected host supports manifest driven exports of system log files, select the system log files to collect. Select the specific system log files to download. If the host does not support manifest exports of log files, all system log files are exported.
5. Select Gather performance data to include performance data information in the log files. Click Next. You can update the duration and interval time you want the data collected.
6. Click Next.
7. Click Browse and specify the location to which to save the log files. The host or vCenter Server generates .zip bundles containing the log files. It does generate zip file but under zip file there is tgz file generated for host based information. The Recent Tasks panel shows the Generate diagnostic bundles task in progress.
8. Click Next. The Downloading Log Bundles dialog box appears when the Generating Diagnostic Bundle task is finished. The download status of each bundle appears in the dialog box. Some network errors can cause download failures. When you select an individual download in the dialog box, the error message for that operation appears under the name and location of the log bundle file.
9. Verify the information in the Summary and click Finish to download the log files.
10. If the download fails, click Retry to attempt to download the generated bundles again. Diagnostic bundles containing log files for the specified objects are downloaded to the location specified.
View System Logs on an ESXi Host
You can use the direct console interface to view the system logs on an ESXi host. These logs provide information about system operational events.
Procedure
1. From the direct console, select View System Logs.
2. Press a corresponding number key to view a log.
vCenter Server agent (vpxa) logs appear if the host is managed by vCenter Server.
1. Press Enter or the spacebar to scroll through the messages.
2. (Optional) Perform a regular expression search.
a. Press the slash key (/).
b. Type the text to find.(it is case sensitive)
c. Press Enter
The found text is highlighted on the screen.
5. Press q to return to the direct console.
Set a Threshold for the License Use of a Product
You can set a threshold for the license use of products. A threshold helps you to track whether the current license use for a product exceeds certain limits. If the license use for the product exceeds the threshold, an alarm is triggered on the corresponding vCenter Server system.
You can apply thresholds only to products with use-based licensing models such as per-virtual machine or vRAM. You can set thresholds below or above the purchased license capacity. Thresholds do not enforce license use limits.
NOTE You can set thresholds for the license use of products only for individual vCenter Server systems. You cannot set thresholds for all vCenter Server systems in a Linked Mode group.
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client, select Home > Administration > Licensing.
2. Select the Reporting tab.
3. (Optional) If the vCenter Server that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, from the vCenter Server drop-down menu, select the vCenter Server system where you want to set a threshold for the license use of a product.
4. Select the product from the Products Chart pane.
5. Click Edit Threshold in the Product Details pane.
6. Type the value for the threshold.
7. Click OK.
You receive a message that the threshold is successfully set for the relevant product.
The view in the Products Chart refreshes after a few seconds and a bar appears that indicates the threshold value as a percent of the license capacity of the product as shown in above figure
If the license use for the product exceeds the threshold amount, an alarm is triggered on the corresponding vCenter Server, and a notice appears on the Reporting tab of the Licensing page. However, further use of the product is not restricted. NOTE The notifications might take several minutes to appear after a threshold is exceeded.
Export a License Use Report
From the Licensing page in the vSphere Client, you can export a report for the license use of products for a certain time period. The report is exported in a CSV file that you can later open with third party applications.
NOTE A temper-detection feature in vCenter Server protects the license use information. If the licensing data in the vCenter Server database has been edited, you cannot export a license use report.
Prerequisites
· Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
· Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
· Ensure that you have the vSphere Web Client installed and the vCenter Server system is registered with it.
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client, select Home > Administration > Licensing.
2. Select the Reporting tab.
3. Click export.
The Export License Data window appears.
4. (Optional) If the vCenter Server instance that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, leave the default All vCenter Server instances value in the vCenter Server drop-down menu. You should leave the default All vCenter Server instances value to export the license use for the entire group. By exporting the license use for a single vCenter Server instance and not the entire group, you do not receive information about the total use of license keys that are assigned to more than one asset in the group.
5. Select a preconfigured or a custom time period for the license use report from the Time period drop-down menu.
6. Click Export.
The export operation takes a few seconds.
7. In the Save Export File window, click Yes.
8. Browse to the location where you want to save the file and click Save.
The license use for products over the selected time period is exported in an CSV file. The CSV file is contained in a .zip file that you can find in the location you specified.
The license use information that you view in the Reporting tab differs from the license use information that you can export. The license use information on the Reporting tab is aggregated data from the license use snapshots available in the vCenter Server database for the period that you select.
The exported report includes all of the snapshots collected over the selected period. The exported report can contain host, vCenter Server, or solution asset IDs, but does not include user-defined names. The exported report is free of user and company-specific information.
Each row of the exported report CSV file lists a single license use snapshot, which includes an asset, its assigned license key, and the use at the given timestamp
The last section of raw data in the file contains a signature that is a checksum of the file content. You can ignore this section of the report.
Licensing Details for a Selected Product
In the above table the Product Details pane, you can view the license use and capacity for the product over the selected period and on the current date. The value for the license use that you view is the total use for all license keys that belong to the product and that are assigned to assets. If a threshold exists for the license use of the product, you can view the threshold limit.
Above figure provides details about vRAM pool.
To view the license keys that belong to a product, select the product from the Products Chart pane.
To view the details for a license key, select the key from the Product Details pane.
Viewing License Use
You can view the use and capacity of the license keys that are assigned to assets for a period that you select. You can use the Reporting tab of the Licensing page in the vSphere Client to perform the following tasks:
· View statistics for the license use and capacity of products filtered by a vCenter Server system and time period.
· Export license use reports in CSV format for further analysis and processing.
· Set a threshold for the license use of products with use-based licensing models, such as per-virtual machine and vRAM. License use thresholds allow you to receive notifications if a certain use is exceeded.
The License Usage History service on vCenter Server takes snapshots of the license use every hour. The license use snapshots are stored in the vCenter Server database. A license use snapshot contains data about the current license assignment and use for assets. The license use reports that you can export in CSV format contain the raw data from the license use snapshots that are collected in the period that you select.
NOTE The license reporting function is part of the vSphere Web Client and is integrated as a plug-in to the vSphere Client. To have the license reporting in the vSphere Client, you must install the vSphere Web Client and register the vCenter Server system with the vSphere Web Client.
You can view the license use for products from the Licensing page in the vSphere Client. You can filter the license use data by vCenter Server system and time period.
Prerequisites
· Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
· Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
· Ensure that you have the vSphere Web Client installed and the vCenter Server system is registered with it.
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client, select Home > Administration > Licensing.
2. Select the Reporting tab.
3. (Optional) If the vCenter Server instance that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, leave the default All vCenter Server instances value in the vCenter Server drop-down menu. You should leave the default All vCenter Server instances value to view the license use for the entire group.
Note: If you view the license use for a single vCenter Server instance and not the entire group, you do not receive information about the total use of license keys assigned to more than one asset in the group.
4. From the Time period drop-down menu, select a preconfigured or a custom time period for which you want to view the license use for products.
a. (Optional) If you select a custom time period, specify the start and end dates, and click Recalculate. The Products Chart shows the license use for each product as a percentage of the license capacity for the product over the period that you select. If a threshold exists for the license use of a product, the percentage of the threshold use appears in the chart.
5. Certain products in the Products Chart might have one or two asterisk (*) symbols next to their names. The asterisks have a special meaning.
