How to Increase VMware hostd, vpxa and vpxd Logging Levels？

Follow below steps to increase the size and number of Management agent (hostd), VirtualCenter Agent Service (vpxa) and VirtualCenter (vpxd) logs for VMware vCenter Server and VMware ESX/ESXi in order to save additional data for troubleshooting purposes.

Increase logging level for Management agent hostd via vSphere Client for VMware ESXi 5.x/6.x

1. Connect to vCenter Server using vSphere Client.
2. Click ESXi 5.x host > Configuration > Software > Advanced Settings > Config > HostAgent > log.
3. Update config.HostAgent.log.level setting to trivia.

Increase logging level for Management agent hostd via config.xml

1. Log in host as root from using SSH session or directly from console.
2. Open configuration file config.xml (/etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml) for hostd using text editor.
3. Change verbose to trivia.
4. Increase <maxFileSize> parameter to change maximum size of the logs.
5. Increase <maxFileNum> parameter to change maximum number of logs.
6. Restart hostd management agent (mgmt-vmware).

Default location of hostd log:
ESXi/ESX 4.x hosts: /var/log/vmware/
ESXi 5.x/6.x hosts: /var/log/

Increase logging level for VirtualCenter Agent Service vpxa via vSphere Client

1. Connect to ESXi host with vSphere Client.
2. Select Configuration tab > Advanced Settings in the Software section.
3. Expand Syslog > loggers > vpxa.
4. Locate Syslog.loggers.vpxa.rotate and Syslog.loggers.vpxa.size.
5. Adjust the setting.

Increase logging level for VirtualCenter Agent Service vpxa via command line

1. Log in to ESXi/ESX host as root from either SSH session or directly from console.
2. Open the configuration file for vpxa (vpxa.cfg) in text editor.
   ESX 3.5 – ESXi/ESX 4.1: /etc/opt/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg
   ESXi 5.x/6.x: /etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg
3. Change verbose to trivia.
4. Increase <maxFileSize> parameter to change maximum size of the logs.
5. Increase <maxFileNum> parameter to change maximum number of logs.
6. Restart vpxa management agent (vmware-vpxa).

Default location of vpxa log:
ESXi/ESX 4.x hosts: /var/log/vmware/vpx/
ESXi 5.x/6.x hosts: /var/log/

Increase logging level for VirtualCenter vpxd via vSphere Client

1. Connect vSphere Client to vCenter Server.
2. Go to Administration > vCenter Server Settings > Logging options.
3. Select trivia from the dropdown.

Increase logging level for VirtualCenter vpxd manually

1. Log into vCenter Server as administrator.
2. Open configuration file for vpxd (vpxd.cfg) in text editor.
   %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\vpxd.cfg
   vCenter Server Appliance: /etc/vmware-vpx/vpxd.cfg
   Windows 2008: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\vpxd.cfg
   vCenter Server 6.0: C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmware-vpx\vpxd.cfg
3. Change info to trivia.
4. Increase <maxFileSize> parameter to change maximum size of the logs.
5. Increase <maxFileNum> parameter to change maximum number of logs.
6. Restart VMware VirtualCenter Server service.

Default location of vpxd logs:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs, which translates to:
Windows 2003: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VirtualCenter\logs
Windows 2008: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs
Windows 2012: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs