You can use the vSphere Client or the esxcli system syslog command to configure the syslog service.

For information about using the esxcli system syslog command and other ESXCLI commands, see Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces.

Procedure

  1. Browse to the host in the vSphere Client inventory.
  2. Click Configure.
  3. Under System, click Advanced System Settings.
  4. Click Edit.
  5. Filter for syslog.
  6. To set up logging globally, select the setting to change and enter the value.
    Option Description
    Syslog.global.defaultRotate Maximum number of archives to keep. You can set this number globally and for individual subloggers.
    Syslog.global.defaultSize Default size of the log, in KB, before the system rotates logs. You can set this number globally and for individual subloggers.
    Syslog.global.LogDir Directory where logs are stored. The directory can be on mounted NFS or VMFS volumes. Only the /scratch directory on the local file system is persistent across reboots. Specify the directory as [datastorename] path_to_file, where the path is relative to the root of the volume backing the datastore. For example, the path [storage1] /systemlogs maps to the path /vmfs/volumes/storage1/systemlogs.
    Syslog.global.logDirUnique Selecting this option creates a subdirectory with the name of the ESXi host under the directory specified by Syslog.global.LogDir. A unique directory is useful if the same NFS directory is used by multiple ESXi hosts.
    Syslog.global.LogHost Remote host to which syslog messages are forwarded and port on which the remote host receives syslog messages. You can include the protocol and the port, for example, ssl://hostName1:1514. UDP (only on port 514), TCP, and SSL are supported. The remote host must have syslog installed and correctly configured to receive the forwarded syslog messages. For more information about remote host configuration, see the documentation for the syslog service installed on the remote host.

    While no hard limit to the number of remote hosts to receive syslog messages exists, it is recommended to keep the number of remote hosts to five or less.
  7. (Optional) To overwrite the default log size and log rotation for any of the logs:
    1. Click the name of the log that you want to customize.
    2. Enter the number of rotations and the log size you want.
  8. Click OK.

Results

Changes to the syslog options take effect immediately.