6.0

VMware, Inc. 10
Command-Line Management in vSphere 5 and vSphere 6 for Service Console Users
Replacing Agents
WithESX4.x,managementagentsandhardwaremonitoringandmanagementagentsrunintheservice
console.WithESXi5,agentsareimplementedinotherways.
 Managementagents.VMwarepartnerscreatemanagementagentsbyusingoneofthevSphereAPIs.
 Hardwareagents.DevelopersuseCIM(CommonInformationModel)agents.CIMisastandards-based
approachtomonitoringhardwareresources.CIMoutputisreadablebythird-partymanagementtools.
TheVMkernelcanincludebothVMwareCIMprovidersandPartnerCIMproviders.UseavSphereClient
loggedintoavCenterServersystemto
viewhardwareinformationincludingalarms.UsethevSphere
ClientextensionframeworkorthevSphereCIMSDKforcustomization.
 Infrastructureserviceagents.AdministratorscanuseagentsavailableintheESXiShell.Agentsinclude
hostd(hostdaemon),vpxa,NTP,syslog,SNMP,andsoon.UsethevSphereSDK,vCLIcommands,or
ESXCLIcommandstomanagetheagents.
Logging in vSphere 5 and Later
LogginginvSphere5hasbeensignificantlyenhanced.Younowhavefine-grainedcontroloversystemlogs,
thelocationwherelogsaresent,and,foreachlog,defaultsizeandrotationpolicy.Youcansetuploggingwith
thevSphereClientorwiththeesxcli system syslogcommand.Youcanalsosetuplogging
behaviorfora
hostbyusingtheHostProfilesinterfaceinthevSphereClientandcanthenimportthathostprofileintoother
hosts.
Remote Logging Setup in ESXi
YoucanmovemostESXilogginginformationoffthehost.Collectingdatatoacentrallocationisespecially
usefulforhostsprovisionedwithAutoDeploy.Youcanperformthesetasks:
 SetupNTPontheESXihostsyouaremonitoringandonthesystemsthathosttheloggingservicesorstore
thelogs.YoucanusethevSphereClientorthevicfg-ntpvCLIcommandtosetupNTP.
 Configuresyslogtosavelogstoaremotehost.Youcansendlogstoaspecificdirectory,andconfigure
subloggers.See“UsingESXCLIforSyslogConfiguration”onpage 10.
 vCenterServerandESXihaveSNMPagents.YoucansetupthevCenterServerSNMPagentwiththe
vSphereClient.YoucansetuptheESXiSNMPagentwiththevSphereClientortheesxcli system snmp
commands.SeevSphereCommand‐LineInterfaceSolutionsandExamples.
 ListenforCIMindications.
Using ESXCLI for Syslog Configuration
Theesxcli system syslogcommandallowsyoutoconfiguretheloggingbehaviorofyourESXisystem.
YoucanperformthesamecustomizationswiththevSphereclient,asdiscussedinthevCenterServerandHost
Managementdocumentation.Thecommandhasthefollowingoptions:
Table 2. Infrastructure Services for Production Environments
Function ESX ESXi Management
Timesynchronization NTPagentinservice
console
Built-inNTPservice vicfg-ntpcommand
Centralizedlogcollection Syslogagentinservice
console
Built-inSyslogservice esxcli system syslog
commands
vSphereClient
SNMPmonitoring SNMPagentinservice
console
Built-inSNMPservice esxcli system snmp
command
Localaccess
authentication
ActiveDirectory(AD)
agentinserviceconsole
BuiltinActiveDirectory
service
Built-inActiveDirectory
service
vSphereClient

vicfg-authconfigvCLI
command.