Tasks represent system activities that do not complete immediately, such as migrating a virtual machine. For example, powering off a virtual machine is a task. You can perform this task manually every evening, or you can set up a scheduled task to power off the virtual machine every evening.

You can view tasks that are associated with a single object or all objects in a vSphere environment. By default, the task list for an object also includes tasks performed on its child objects. You can filter the task list by entering the object that you want in the Target column filter.

If you are logged in to a vCenter Server instance that is part of a vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode group, the Server column in the task list displays the name of the vCenter Server system on which the task is performed.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to an object in the inventory.
  2. Click the Monitor tab.
  3. Under Tasks and Events, select Tasks.
    The task list contains tasks performed on the object and detailed information, such as target, task status, initiator, and start/completion time of the task.
    You can limit the number of tasks visible in the Tasks pane by selecting an option from the Items per page drop-down menu.
  4. (Optional) Click the filter (Select filter) icon on a column header and filter the task list by entering your filtering criteria.
  5. (Optional) Click the expand row (Expand row) icon to view related events for a task. You can view task information about multiple tasks at the same time.