Update value for "Syslog.global.logDir" without ESXi reboot ?

[CERKYR]

System logs are stored on non-persistent storage (2032823) | VMware KB

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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 field ScratchConfig.CurrentScratchLocation shows a location on persistent storage.
   
   Note: You must reboot the host for the changes to take effect.

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BUT the server is Under production; restart it or move VM is not possible; then it's not possible to reboot the ESXi server.
How to do the same change without reboot ?

Regards

[sk84]

BUT the server is Under production; restart it or move VM is not possible; then it's not possible to reboot the ESXi server.

How to do the same change without reboot ?

At first, if you can't restart or move VMs to other ESXi hosts, you have the wrong setup...

What about updates due to critical vulnerabilities? What if you need to replace hardware, for example because a memory dimm is broken? So either you have multiple hosts in a cluster and a license which allows vMotion or it must be possible to shut down the VMs for maintenance windows. If neither is possible, the infrastructure design is not right.

But back to your question:

You can try to change the advanced option "Syslog.global.logDir" and restart the syslog service on command line:

esxcli system syslog reload

But I can't say for sure if that's enough.

[Raj1988]

A reboot is not required here. Changes to the syslog options take effect immediately. Please get this updated.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc/GUID-9F67DB52-F469-451F...

The KB feedback has been provided. Should be updated in few days.

Regards,

AJ

[dmveron2]

I understand a restart of the syslog service is not supposed to be required for the settings to apply, but my experience is different from the documentation (such as Configure Syslog on ESXi Hosts )

Even on the current build of ESXi 6.5 (14320405), updating the syslog IP, for example, required a restart of the syslog service. We deployed a new syslog server and after changing the IP for Syslog.global.LogHost, logs were still going to the old IP. As soon as we bounced the syslog service, logs started going to the correct IP.

FWIW, we did this through PowerCLI since we were updating entire clusters.

[NathanosBlightc]

Hi

You don't really need to restart the ESXi host for such a these configs like Syslog Settings.

Just restart the syslog service of your host by vSphere Client / Web Client or run following commands by SSH/Shell access to do that:

For checking syslog current configs:  # esxcli system syslog config  get

For reloading syslog configuration:     # esxcli system syslog config reload

Then check the new directory for new generated log files ...