With the vSphere Web Client it is possible to view, search and export vCenter Server and ESXi log files using the Log Browser.

When you use the log browser to retrieve the log files of an ESXi host, the log bundle is stored on the ESXi host in /tmp/scratch/downloads. The location /tmp is a symbolic link to the RAM disk created by ESXi to store temporary files.

You can view the log bundle and the size of it using the ‘ls ‘ command when logged in to the ESXi shell.

Because the RAM disk is not very big it might be possible that the Log Browser cannot retrieve the log files of the ESXi host. If the RAM disk is full you will receive an error that no support bundle could be generated.

This error doesn’t show you why the log bundle couldn’t be created but the events tab of the ESXi host does.

You can view the RAM disk usage using the ‘vdf’ command when logged in to the ESXi shell.

It is possible to remove previously created log bundles using the log browser but the failed log bundle will still be on the RAM disk. You can remove this log bundle using the ‘rm’ command when logged in to the ESXi shell.