Location of vCenter Server log files

The vCenter Server logs are placed in a different directory on disk depending on vCenter Server version and the deployed platform:

• vCenter Server 5.x and earlier versions on Windows XP, 2000, 2003: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\
• vCenter Server 5.x and earlier versions on Windows Vista, 7, 2008: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs\
• vCenter Server Appliance 5.x: /var/log/vmware/vpx/ 
• vCenter Server Appliance 5.x UI: /var/log/vmware/vami
   
  Note: If the service is running under a specific user, the logs may be located in the profile directory of that user instead of %ALLUSERSPROFILE%.

vCenter Server logs are grouped by component and purpose:

• vpxd.log: The main vCenter Server logs, consisting of all vSphere Client and WebServices connections, internal tasks and events, and communication with the vCenter Server Agent (vpxa) on managed ESX/ESXi hosts.
  
  
• vpxd-profiler.log, profiler.log and scoreboard.log: Profiled metrics for operations performed in vCenter Server. Used by the VPX Operational Dashboard (VOD) accessible at https://VCHostnameOrIPAddress/vod/index.html.
  
  
• vpxd-alert.log: Non-fatal information logged about the vpxd process.
  
  
• cim-diag.log and vws.log: Common Information Model monitoring information, including communication between vCenter Server and managed hosts' CIM interface.
  
  
• drmdump\: Actions proposed and taken by VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), grouped by the DRS-enabled cluster managed by vCenter Server. These logs are compressed.
  
  
• ls.log: Health reports for the Licensing Services extension, connectivity logs to vCenter Server.
  
  
• vimtool.log: Dump of string used during the installation of vCenter Server with hashed information for DNS, username and output for JDBC creation.
  
  
• stats.log: Provides information about the historical performance data collection from the ESXi/ESX hosts
  
  
• sms.log: Health reports for the Storage Monitoring Service extension, connectivity logs to vCenter Server, the vCenter Server database and the xDB for vCenter Inventory Service.
  
  
• eam.log: Health reports for the ESX Agent Monitor extension, connectivity logs to vCenter Server.
  
  
• catalina.<date>.log and localhost.<date>.log: Connectivity information and status of the VMware Webmanagement Services.
  
  
• jointool.log: Health status of the VMwareVCMSDS service and individual ADAM database objects, internal tasks and events, and replication logs between linked-mode vCenter Servers.
  
  
• Additional log files:
  • manager.<date>.log
  • host-manager.<date>.log

Note: As each log grows, it is rotated over a series of numbered component-nnn.log files. On some platforms, the rotated logs are compressed.

vCenter Server logs can be viewed from:

• The vSphere Client connected to vCenter Server 4.0 and higher – Click Home > Administration > System Logs.
• The Virtual Infrastructure Client connected to VirtualCenter Server 2.5 – Click Administration > System Logs.
• From the vSphere 5.1 and 5.5 Web Client – Click Home > Log Browser, then from the Log Browser, click Select object now, choose an ESXi host or vCenter Server object, and click OK.