VMware vSphere Collector (Beta)

Legal

The VMware vSphere collector is provided by ScienceLogic with the following terms:

You may use, modify, reproduce, and distribute this freely and without restriction, provided as a condition of our provision to use the software you acknowledge that the software is provided as-is, and ScienceLogic will not have any monetary liability in association with the distribution of this software.

Overview

To collect logs for Skylar Automated RCA, you will need to set up a syslog forwarder within the vSphere environment and configure vCenter to forward syslog events to the syslog forwarder.

This feature is currently Beta. For access to this collector, contact Skylar Automated RCA at support@sciencelogic.com.

Prerequisites

• VMware vSphere 6.7 or later
• VMware vCenter Server
• Linux VM for forwarding syslogs

Installation and Configuration

Installing the Syslog Forwarder

1. Create a VM for hosting the syslog forwarder. An Ubuntu 22.04 server with 1 CPU, 2G RAM, and 16G HDD is recommended.

2. Install the syslog forwarder on the new VM by following the directions in the Syslog Forwarder topic.

Configuring vCenter Syslog Collection

Configure your vCenter Server to forward vCenter syslogs to your new VM by following the directions here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vsphere.monitoring.doc/GUID-9633A961-A5C3-4658-B099-B81E0512DC21.html

Configuring ESXi Host Syslog Collection

1. (Optional) For environments with fewer than 30 hosts, you can configure ESXi logs to be sent to the vCenter server, which in turn will forward the logs to Skylar Automated RCA. For more information, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2003322

2. (optional) For environments where forwarding ESXi logs to vCenter is not ideal, you can configure ESXi host logs to be sent directly to the syslog forwarder. You can accomplish this in one of the following ways: 

   • Configure the ESXi syslog settings via vSphere Inventory Advanced System Settings: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.esxi.upgrade.doc/GUID-9F67DB52-F469-451F-B6C8-DAE8D95976E7.html.

   • Configure the ESXi Syslog.global.logHost settings with the esxcli tool: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.esxi.install.doc/GUID-8981F5FA-BB2A-47FB-A59A-7FC5C523CFDE.html.

Collecting VM Logs

To send logs to Skylar Automated RCA directly from VMs, please see the following topics:

• Linux-based VMs: Linux Collector
• Windows-based VMs: Windows OTel Collector
• Other VMs: Configuring Log Collectors and File Uploads

Some VM operating systems might support forwarding syslogs. Forwarding the VM syslogs to the Skylar Automated RCA syslog forwarder created in the Installing the Syslog Forwarder topic might be an efficient VM log collection solution.