If your VMware Cloud Director appliance deployment fails or if the appliance is not operating properly, you can examine the appliance log files to determine the cause of the problem.

VMware Global Support routinely requests diagnostic information handling support requests. You can use the vmware-vcd-support script to collect host log information, and VMware Cloud Director logs. For more information about collecting diagnostic information for VMware Cloud Director, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1026312. When running the vmware-vcd-support script, the logs might include information about decommissioned or replaced cells with status FAIL. See, https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/71349.

Shortcuts and Bash Environment Variables

Starting with VMware Cloud Director 10.5, you can use the following shortcuts for troubleshooting the VMware Cloud Director appliance and Bash environment variables to simplify frequently used directory paths.

Table 1. Environment Variables for Frequently Used Directories
Environment Variable Path Example Description
VCLOUD_DATA_TRANSFER ${VCLOUD_HOME}/data/transfer

Where {VCLOUD_HOME} is the directory in which VMware Cloud Director is installed.

 
cd $VCLOUD_DATA_TRANSFER
 Directory path for appliance cluster management and for providing temporary storage for uploads, downloads, and catalog items that are published or subscribed externally.
VCLOUD_ETC ${VCLOUD_HOME}/etc 
cd $VCLOUD_ETC
 Directory path containing all configuration files.
VCLOUD_LOGS ${VCLOUD_HOME}/logs 
cd $VCLOUD_LOGS
echo $VCLOUD_LOGS
ls -lrtah $VCLOUD_LOGS
pushd $VCLOUD_LOGS
Directory path containing all log files related to VMware Cloud Director
VCLOUD_VAMI_LOGS /opt/vmware/var/log/vami 
cd $VCLOUD_VAMI_LOGS
 Applicable only to the VMware Cloud Director appliance. Directory path for all VMware Cloud Director appliance management interface logs.
VCLOUD_VAR_LOGS /opt/vmware/var/log 
cd $VCLOUD_VAR_LOGS
 Applicable only to the VMware Cloud Director appliance. Directory path for appliance log files.
VMWARE_POSTGRES_DATA_LOGS ${VMWARE_POSTGRES_DATA}/log 
cd $VMWARE_POSTGRES_DATA_LOGS
 Applicable only to the VMware Cloud Director appliance. Directory path for PostgreSQL log files.
Table 2. Shortcuts
Shortcut Description Use 
cmt
cell-management-tool
 Simplified command to run the cell management tool from anywhere 
cell-management-tool --help
cmt --help
 
cell_pid
 Displays the process identifier of a VMware Cloud Director cell. You can use the process identifier to identify and manage processes within the cell. 
cell_pid
 
cell_status
 Prints the summary of the cell status. 
cell_status
 
thread_dump
 Generates a thread dump and prints the dump path. You can use thread dumps to learn more about the thread activity of the VMware Cloud Director appliance and identify a deadlock, synchronization, or threading problems. 
thread_dump
 
heap_dump
 Generates a heap dump and prints the dump path. You can use heap dumps to learn more about the objects that are currently in memory and identify memory related issues. 
heap_dump --username administrator_username
heap_dump --username administrator_username --password administrator_password
 
generate_support_bundle
 Generates log bundles from multiple distributed cells. 
generate_support_bundle
 
version
 Applicable only to the VMware Cloud Director appliance. Prints the VMware Cloud Director appliance version and build number 
version
 
db
 Applicable only to the VMware Cloud Director appliance. Connects to the database and runs database queries. 
db
db --help
db -c "select * from table_name;"
 
repmgr
 Applicable only to the VMware Cloud Director appliance. Runs the repmgr command with the correct configuration. 
repmgr --help
repmgr cluster show
repmgr node status