By BackToBasics

vCenter ships with a number of optional services including

  • ESXi Dump Collector – Redirects kernel panic data to a central location
  • SysLog Collector – Redirects Syslog for each ESX host to a central location
  • Auto Deploy – Primary config for those wanting to use AutoDeploy (PXE boot with images and host profiles)

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(Note: I’m still working on the Authentication Service – I’ve got an issue with certificates which I’m trying to resolve with it…)

It’s by no means mandatory to install the Auto Deploy Service, it’s only there if you choose that method of setup. Although I would highly recommend redirecting your kernel dumps and syslogs. It just makes them so much easier to get at if you need them, and if you do have to upload your syslog to support it makes it a simpler process. Of course with log files there plenty of other options such as VMware’s LogInsight product, or technologies like Splunk.

ESXi Dump Collector

By default if a critical error happens to the VMware ESX host a “dump” will take this place. This is not dump of memory, but of configuration data. VMware ESX hosts with local storage are capable of dumping this data to local storage, but stateless system may not have storage to carry out this process. Regardless of how VMware ESX is installed, your organization might prefer to have these centrally located. The ESXi Dump Collector allows for this type of configuration.

1. Open the vSphere vCenter Installer

2. Under VMware vCenter Support Tools, select vSphere ESXi Dump Collector and click Install

3. Adjust you paths to reflect a storage location that keeps the dump files away from your operating system.

Screen Shot 2013-11-08 at 18.38.38.png

Note: It is possible to limit the amount of disk space allocated to the Dump Collector Repository in increments of GB. Whatever allocation of storage you assign, you must ensure the destination has the free space on that storage location.

4. In this case the ESXi Dump Collector is being installed to the vCenter Instance, so selecting “VMware vCenter Server Installation” is the most appropriate option.

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5. Next complete the standard dialog box to register the ESXi Dump Collector with the vCenter instance.

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Note: You should be presented with a certificate thumbprint to accept. Typically VMware redirects port 80 connections to port 443 or some other SSL secure port number.

6. Accept the default ESXi Dump Collection (UDP) port number

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7. Accept the FQDN as the method by which the ESXi Dump Collector identifies itself to the ESXi host

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In whether in a vCenter mode or stand-alone , the VMware ESX hosts will need to be manually configured for the ESXi Dump Collector. This can be done using PowerCLI which in turn calls the esxcli interface can be used to get, set and enable the configuration on the ESXi host. The configuration only support an IP address for specifying the ESXi Dump Collector identity.

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank Chris Murray blogger at techshifter.com for his article Using the vSphere 5.1 ESXi Dump Collector

Screen Shot 2013-10-21 at 14.01.16.png – Check the ESXi Dump Collector Configuration Example:

Foreach ($vmhost in (get-vmhost))
{
$esxcli = Get-EsxCli -vmhost $vmhost
$esxcli.system.coredump.network.get()
}
Screen Shot 2013-10-21 at 14.01.16.png – Setting the ESXi Dump Collector Example:
Foreach ($vmhost in (get-vmhost))
{
$esxcli = Get-EsxCli -vmhost $vmhost
$esxcli.system.coredump.network.set($null, “vmk0”, “192.168.3.129”, “6500”)
$esxcli.system.coredump.network.set($true)
}
Acknowledgement: This part of this article was found online at Kyle Gleed’s blogpost Setting up the ESXi 5.0 Dump Collector.

If you wish to hard test this – a crash can be invoked at the physical console with the vsish command
# vsish -e set /reliability/crashMe/Panic 1
Issuing this command at the physical console will cause the ESX host to panic, and produce a purple screen of death (PSOD). Notice how the dump process is transferring configuration data to the ESX Dump Collector IP address.

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You should find the dump file in the path specified during the installation, held in subdirectories which reflect the Management IP address of the ESX host. Generally, these dump files are uploaded to VMware Support for further analysis. PSOD are in the main caused by faulty hardware such as fault RAM or badly seat memory after an upgrade.

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Finally, you should find that with “vCenter Installation” that there is an icon for the ESXi Dump Collector. This icon doesn’t actually do much, but it does show what the current configuration is for the service. Incidentally, this icon does not currently appear in the vSphere Web Client.

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Syslog Collector

By default VMware ESXi stores its core log files on a local partition. These can be accessed in a number of different ways remotely using an array of different client tools. However, so administrator prefer to collect these at a central location for ease of access or for further parsing by log analyse tools. Again, the SysLog Collector will be of specific interest to those who have adopted a stateless “Auto Deploy” model for rolling out VMware ESXi. In this scenario log files are stored temporarily on scratch storage, and lost after a reboot.

1. Open the vSphere vCenter Installer

2. Under VMware vCenter Support Tools, select vSphere SysLog Collector and click Install

3. Adjust you paths to reflect a storage location that keeps the logs files away from your operating system. You can set the size of the log files, and frequently they should be rotated

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4. Select a VMware vCenter Server Installation. This registers icon with the vCenter Server.

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5. In the subsequent dialog box, complete the fields to register the SysLog Connector with vCenter, and accept the certificate when prompted.

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6. Accept or modify the TCP port settings relative to your environment

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7. Select how the SysLog Collector will identify its self on the network, in this case by FQDN rather than by IP address.

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In whether in a vCenter mode or stand-alone , the VMware ESX hosts will need to be manually configured for the ESXi SysLog Collector. This is the same situation as with the ESXi Dump Collector service. Similarly, this configuration can be done using PowerCLI which in turn calls the esxcli interface can be used to get, set and enable the configuration on the ESXi host. The configuration only support an IP address for specifying the ESXi SysLog Collector identity.

Screen Shot 2013-10-21 at 14.01.16.png – Check the ESXi Dump Collector Configuration Example:

The field “RemoteHost” should indicate <none> indicating now host is configured to hold its SysLog files on the SysLog Collector.

Foreach ($vmhost in (get-vmhost))
{
$esxcli = Get-EsxCli -vmhost $vmhost
$esxcli.system.syslog.config.get()
}
Screen Shot 2013-10-21 at 14.01.16.png – Setting the ESXi Dump Collector Example:

In this case, PowerCLI enabled the “Remote Host” parameter, restarts the syslog service – and then opens the Syslog port on 514.

Foreach ($vmhost in (get-vmhost))
{
$esxcli = Get-EsxCli -vmhost $vmhost
$esxcli.system.syslog.config.set($null, $null, $null, $null,”udp://vcnyc.corp.com:514″)
$esxcli.system.syslog.reload()
}

get-vmhost| Get-VMHostFirewallException |?{$_.Name -eq ‘syslog’} | Set-VMHostFirewallException -Enabled:$true
After a short while you should see syslog populating the directory structure in the SysLog collector by IP address of the ESX host.

Screen Shot 2013-11-11 at 11.59.44.png

Auto Deploy

Auto Deploy is method of rolling out VMware ESXi that allows for stateless configuration – in which the physical host does not boot from media, but instead boots over the network using the Pre-Execution Environment (PXE) capabilities of many modern network cards. In Auto Deploy the ESXi Host boot to PXE, and an “image” of ESXi is loaded across the network. Once booted the ESXi hosts retrieve the remainder of their configuration from vCenter system of “Host Profiles”. Auto Deploy does require use of Enterprize Plus vSphere licensing, and is therefore a feature not every vSphere environment has access to. Auto Deploy will appeal to large scale environments that have many ESX hosts to manage, and want a simple and easy method to both deploy ESX to the environment, but also do away with the process of patch management with technologies like VMware Update Manager which is used to patch and upgrade systems that have been installed to disk.

Note: If your organization has no intention of using the Auto Deploy feature or is not licensed to use Host Profiles – this installation can be skipped altogether.

The use of Auto Deploy is covered elsewhere in the vmWIKI, this article merely covers the base installation.

1. Open the vSphere vCenter Installer

2. Under VMware vCenter Support Tools, select vSphere Auto Deploy and click Install

3. In the Destination Folder options change the location for the Auto Deploy files to reflect your preferred storage location. You can also set a maximum size of the auto deploy repository.

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4. Next specify the connection options to communicate with the vCenter Server, and accept the default certificate.

Screen Shot 2013-11-11 at 12.59.51.png

5. Next accept or adjust the Auto Deploy TCP port settings as fits your network

Screen Shot 2013-11-11 at 13.01.26.png

6. Finally, specify how the Auto Deploy service will be identified on the network

Screen Shot 2013-11-11 at 13.02.39.png