By: Dylan Isom, Blue Medora
Root logging levels are primarily used for troubleshooting and diagnosing issues within VMware‘s various software and applications. Today we will focus on the root logging levels within VMware’s vRealize Operations Management software otherwise known as vROps. We will cover what the various logging levels do, as well as how to view and change these log levels. Please note: in order to access log files, you must have permission to access the “Administration” gear icon.
Viewing Log Files
1. Select the Administration icon found on the left navigation panel.
2. At the bottom of the navigation panel, select the Support icon.
Figure 1 – Solutions Screen
3. On the next screen select Logs.
4. In the Logs navigation screen, expand a top-level node
5. Expand the subdirectory that you want to access.
6. Find the log file that you desire, and double-click that log to have it display in the blank space to the right.
Figure 2 – Logs Grouped by Collector
Changing Log Levels
1. In the left navigation panel, select the Navigation icon.
2. Select Support at the bottom of the navigation panel.
3. Select log.
4. In the logs screen, expand a top-level node.
5. Select a subdirectory on the navigation screen.
6. Click on the gear icon to change the log levels.
Figure 3 – Edit Logger Configuration Screen
When updating the root logging level, you should be aware of some basic information. Foremost, the majority of the logs will be set to error or warning by default. To diagnose basic issues, you will want to change the log level to “info.” If you require a more in depth analysis for troubleshooting, you will want to change the log level to “debug,” which includes information on microsteps, queries, and returned results. While set to debug, the log level can reach the maximum log file size in a very short amount of time. Therefore it’s imperative to revert back to info level debugging right after capturing is complete. Listed below are descriptions of the various root logging levels:
- ALL: This level turns on all logging.
- DEBUG: This level allows for capturing granular informational events that are useful to debug an application.
- ERROR: This level designates error events that might still allow the application to continue running.
- INFO: This level designates informational messages that highlight the progress of the application.
- WARNING: This level designates potentially harmful situations.
- OFF: This level turns off logging.
Depending on the duration of the capture and the size of your environment, the maximum log size can be reached very quickly. For example, If your environment is comprised of 300 nodes, debug level logging will quickly reach a Maximum Log Size set to 300MB. Some enterprise environments use the Syslog Export function, shown in Figure 3, to expedite troubleshooting and centrally manage logging. To complete setup of syslog from vROps, you must input an IP address or hostname as well as a port number.
vRealize Operations offers several root level logging options in the event of a problem where log files are needed. This flexibility is very helpful when the logs are captured and are presented to higher levels of support or engineering. If you would like more information on this topic, reach out to [email protected].
