You can configure serial logging on an appliance VM to capture log messages when the VM crashes.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the VM as root.
  2. Edit /etc/default/grub.
  3. Find the parameter GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAUL and append console=ttyS0 console=tty0.
  4. Run the command update-grub2.
  5. Verify that the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file has the change made in step 3.
  6. Power off the VM.
  7. Edit the VM's configuration (.vmx) file and add the following lines:
           serial0.present = "TRUE"
           serial0.fileType = "file"
           serial0.fileName = "serial.out"
           serial0.yieldOnMsrRead = "TRUE"
           answer.msg.serial.file.open = "Append"
  8. Power on the VM.

Results

If a kernel panic occurs in the VM, you can find the file serial.out containing log messages at the same location as that of the .vmx file.