Where is the vmkernel files in ESX actually located?

[rickardnobel]

I have another question that has been I have wondering for some time:

In a default ESX 4 there is a few partitions: /boot, vmkcore and the VMFS volume. In the /boot there is not many files and the same with vmkcore, so my question is: where are the VMkernel files?

I suspect, but can not understand how it works, that they are inside the esxconsole.vmdk file, but it seems like a catch 22. Or can the vmdk file be accessed without the vmkernel running?

[MauroBonder]

Here is the common log file structure in ESX (Source)

• /var/log/vmware/hostd.log – ESX Service Log

• var/log/vmware/vpx/vpxa.log – vSphere Client Agent Logs

• /var/log/vmware/aam – VMware HA Logs

• /var/logvmkernel – VMKernel Messages

• /var/log/vmkwarning – VMKernel Warnings

• /var/log/messages – Service Console Log

Here is the common log file structure in ESXi

• /var/log/vmware/hostd.log – ESXi Service Log

• var/log/vmware/vpx/vpxa.log – vCenter Agent Logs

• /var/log/messages – Syslog Log (Combines vmkernel & hostd)

For more info: http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/2010/06/03/vmware-esxi-4-log-files/

*If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful"*

[rickardnobel]

Thank you for your reply. I was perhaps not really clear in my question. What I mainly is wondering is where the files are that actually is the hypervisor, the vmkernel.

Since the Service Console is a virtual machine and the virtual machine needs a hypervisor to run and the hypervisor files is nowhere to be found, except perhaps inside the VM - then I am confused.

[mcowger]

/boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.img

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek, Storage Nerd

[MauroBonder]

.

*If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful"*

[rickardnobel]

/boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.img

Thank you for your reply. So these are the actual vmkernel (or part of it)? Do they get loaded very early before the SC starts to initiate?

There are no other files that could be said to be the actual kernel inside the SC? As noted from MauroBonder post several log files are located there.

[rickardnobel]

<span class="long_text"><span style="background-color: #ffffff">I do not know if I understand right, but between the / VMFS / volumes / directories have some Hypervisor1, Hypervisor2 and 3. </span>I think that's what they looking for, but it is, try to explain better.

I have seen those Hypervisor1, 2 and 3, but that was partitions in ESXi. Do they exist as directories in ESX?

[DSTAVERT]

How are you wanting to use the information?

[rickardnobel]

How are you wanting to use the information?

Not disassembling it. I am just curious to understand how the system works.

[mcowger · Accepted solution]

These are the kernel files loaded by grub and start long before the service console - they are what print all the kernel messages to the screen on boot.

There are certainly helpers in the service console without whicht he vmkernel wouldn't work, but the vmlinuz really is the kernel.

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek, Storage Nerd

[DSTAVERT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware_ESX is worthwhile reading

[rickardnobel]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware_ESX is worthwhile reading

Thanks, it was a quite technical article.

[DSTAVERT]

It either helps understanding or raises a lot more questions.

[rickardnobel]

It either helps understanding or raises a lot more questions.

It is certainly a bit complicated. But now I know what seemed to be most strange to me, that the vmkernel is not inside the SC vmdk file

[DSTAVERT]

In ESX 4, for the most part, the SC is just a normal Virtual Machine albeit with special capabilities.

[rickardnobel]

In ESX 4, for the most part, the SC is just a normal Virtual Machine albeit with special capabilities.

But could the ESX host continue to run if the SC operating system would crash?

You mention ESX 4, was the SC/COS different in earlier editions?