ESXi Host Logs
| Component | Location | Purpose | |
| 1 | VMkernel | /var/log/vmkernel.log | ESXi |
| 2 | VMkernel warnings | /var/log/vmkwarning.log | Records activities related to virtual machines |
| 3 | VMkernel summary | /var/log/vmksummary.log | Used to determine uptime and availability statistics for ESXi (comma separated) |
| 4 | ESXi host agent log | /var/log/hostd.log | Contains information about the agent that manages and configures the ESXi host and its virtual machines |
| 5 | vCenter agent log | /var/log/vpxa.log | Contains information about the agent that communicates with vCenter Server (if the host is managed by vCenter Server) |
| 6 | Shell log | /var/log/shell.log | ESXi Shell as well as shell events (for example, when the shell was enabled) |
| 7 | Authentication | /var/log/auth.log | Contains all events related to authentication for the local system |
| 8 | System messages | /var/log/syslog.log | Contains all general log messages and can be used for troubleshooting. This information was formerly located in the messages log file |
| 9 | Virtual machines | The same directory as the affected virtual machine’s configuration files, named vmware.log and vmware*.log. For example, /vmfs/volumes/datastore/virtual machine/vwmare.log | Contains virtual machine power events, system failure information, tools status and activity, time sync, virtual hardware changes, vMotion migrations, machine clones, and so on |
The VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.x logs are located in the /var/log/vmware/
| vCenter Server Appliance Log Location | Purpose | |
| 10 | vpxd/vpxd.log | The main vCenter Serverlog |
| 11 | vpxd/vpxd-profiler.log | Profile metrics for operations performed in vCenter Server |
| 12 | vpxd/vpxd-alert.log | Non-fatal information logged about the vpxd process |
| 13 | perfcharts/stats.log | VMware Performance Charts |
| 14 | eam/eam.log | VMware ESX Agent Manager |
| 15 | invsvc | VMware Inventory Service |
| 16 | netdumper | VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector |
| 17 | vapi | VMware vAPI Endpoint |
| 18 | vmdird | VMware Directory Service daemon |
| 19 | syslog | vSphere Syslog Collector |
| 20 | vmware-sps/sps.log | VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage Service |
| 21 | vpostgres | vFabric Postgres database service |
| 22 | vsphere-client | VMware vSphere Web Client |
| 23 | vws | VMware System and Hardware Health Manager |
| 24 | workflow | VMware vCenter Workflow Manager |
| 25 | SSO | VMware Single Sign-On |
https://www.altaro.com/vmware/vsphere-log-files/
