VMware VS4-ENT-PL-A - vSphere Enterprise Plus, Setup Manual, Page: 202 / 276

vSphere Auto Deploy Logging and Troubleshooting Best Practices
To resolve problems you encounter with vSphere Auto Deploy, use the Auto Deploy logging information
from the vSphere Web Client and set up your environment to send logging information and core dumps to
remote hosts.
Auto Deploy Logs
1 In a vSphere Web Client connected to the vCenter Server system that
Auto Deploy is registered with, go to the inventory list and select the
vCenter Server system.
2 Click the Manage tab, select Settings, and click Auto Deploy.
3 Click Download TFTP Boot Log to download the TFTP configuration
file and unzip the file to the directory in which your TFTP server stores
files.
Setting Up Syslog
Set up a remote Syslog server. See the vCenter Server and Host Management
documentation for Syslog server configuration information. Configure the
first host you boot to use the remote syslog server and apply that host's host
profile to all other target hosts. Optionally, install and use the vSphere Syslog
Collector, a vCenter Server support tool that provides a unified architecture
for system logging and enables network logging and combining of logs from
multiple hosts.
Setting Up ESXi Dump
Collector
Hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy do not have a local disk to store core
dumps on. Install ESXi Dump Collector and set up your first host so all core
dumps are directed to ESXi Dump Collector, and apply the host profile from
that host to all other hosts. See “Configure ESXi Dump Collector with
ESXCLI,” on page 189.
Using Auto Deploy in a Production Environment
When you move from a proof of concept setup to a production environment, take care to make the
environment resilient.
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Protect the Auto Deploy server. “Auto Deploy and vSphere HA Best Practices,” on page 200 gives an
overview of the options you have.
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Protect all other servers in your environment including the DHCP server and the TFTP server.
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Follow VMware security guidelines, including those outlined in “Auto Deploy Security
Considerations,” on page 205.
Auto Deploy Device Alias Best Practices
A compliance check for a device alias profile might result in a compliance failure that cannot be remediated
without modifying the hardware itself. These errors occur when the hosts are not fully homogenous (for
example, the hosts contain different PCI cards or have different BIOS levels).
vSphere Installation and Setup
202 VMware, Inc.