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kungpow
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ESXi 5.1.0 Fresh Install - logs are stored on non-persistent storage

I just did a fresh install of ESXi 5.1.0 on a new dell server and I get the following error message prior to seeing 'Welcome to VMware ESi 5.1.0 Installation' message:

'Logs are stored on non-persistent storage. Consult product documentation to configure a syslog server or a scratch partition.'

After ESXi install, I don't see the error message anymore. Is that error message normal during fresh installs?

Thanks

7 Replies
JCMorrissey
Expert
Expert

Hi,

that is normal as - if you like you can create a persistent area for the scratch partition http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=103369...

From VMware documentation

"Installing ESXi 5.1 requires a boot device that is a minimum of 1GB in size. When booting from a local disk or SAN/iSCSI LUN, a 5.2GB disk is required to allow for the creation of the VMFS volume and a 4GB scratch partition on the boot device. If a smaller disk or LUN is used, the installer will attempt to allocate a scratch region on a separate local disk. If a local disk cannot be found the scratch partition, /scratch, will be located on the ESXi host ramdisk, linked to /tmp/scratch. You can reconfigure /scratch to use a separate disk or LUN. For best performance and memory optimization, VMware recommends that you do not leave /scratch on the ESXi host ramdisk."

Please consider marking as "helpful", if you find this post useful. Thanks!... http://johncmorrissey.wordpress.com/
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Cyberfed27
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Yep it is. We store ours on a datastore we created just for this purpose.

Click on a VMhost.

Click 'configuration' tab

Under software click 'advanced settings'

Scroll down the window that comes up to ' Syslog '

Under 'global' you will see a Syslog.global.logDir

Fill in the datastore name and logdir name.

Repeat for each VMhost.

EXAMPLE:

We created a datastore called "VMwareLOGS" and a directory in there called "VMHOST01"

So our synax in the Syslog.global.logDir paramenter is:

[VMwareLOGS] VMHOST01

Hope this helps.

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kevinbreit
Contributor
Contributor

How do you bypass this error message? I'm trying to get past the error but nothing lets me by. I can only get to the console and the debug screen but not into the install process.

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OscarDavey
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Verifying the Location of System Logs in vSphere Client

To verify the location:

  1. In vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory panel.
  2. Click the Configuration tab, then click Advanced Settings under Software.
  3. Ensure that Syslog.global.logDir points to a persistent location.The directory should be specified as [datastorename] path_to_file where the path is relative to the datastore. For example, [datastore1] /systemlogs.
  4. If the Syslog.global.logDir field is empty or explicitly points to a scratch partition, make sure that the fieldScratchConfig.CurrentScratchLocation shows a location on persistent storage.

Verifying the Location of System Logs in vSphere Web Client

To verify the location:

  1. Browse to the host in the vSphere Web Client navigator.
  2. Click the Manage tab, then click Settings.
  3. Under System, click Advanced System Settings.
  4. Ensure that Syslog.global.logDir points to a persistent location.
  5. If the field Syslog.global.logDir is empty or points to a scratch partition, make sure that the fieldScratchConfig.CurrentScratchLocation shows a location on persistent storage.

    Note: You must reboot the host for the changes to take effect.

Hope this will help

Best regards

Yours, Oscar

mleon33
Contributor
Contributor

hey, I have same error, but I am booting from CD, please how resolve it?

take note, I don't do it from PC or client, else from CD in a fresh install.

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herrickdl
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for this info.  What size do you recommend for the datastore?  We only have 3 ESXi 5.1 host servers.

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ClintColding
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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