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VCF9 Installer Log files

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sdebarros posted Jun 29, 2025 10:01 AM

Hello everyone.. I have a home lab and looks like the installer fails on Host validation, but does not say why. In VCF 5.x at least it pointed you in the right direction..

I am looking for the log file that has a record of why it failed instead of my guessing why it failed. Also is there a way to bypass the host validation???

I have looked at many of the files in /var/log and can't find anything pertaining to the host validation process.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have a good one..

Shen88 posted Jul 01, 2025 04:09 PM Best Answer

@sdebarros,

Please look at /var/log/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/domainmanager.log file, this will be sufficient to track what's happening with the deployment. If deployment fails this log file will have pointers to other log files if needed.

In case you need to generate for any reason, please refer this KB.

Broadcom Employee Ravi Shankar posted Jun 30, 2025 10:00 AM

Hi @sdebarros, you can SSH to the VCF installer using the vcf user and check all the logs under "/var/log/vmware/vcf"

Also, in the UI, it should be pointing to some error. Can you also let me know how you did the ESXI host preparation?

Broadcom Employee Ravi Shankar posted Jun 30, 2025 10:00 AM

Please share the error screenshot if possible

sdebarros posted Jul 01, 2025 11:07 AM

Here is a screen shot. Not too helpful. Hosts are running ESXi9.0 in case someone asks.. As for logs under /var/log/vmware/vcf There are various directories and files, which one???

Thanks

sdebarros posted Jul 01, 2025 06:30 PM

@Shen880 Thanks I just checked this file and seen the issues.. Thanks for everyone helps here..

Have a good one.

Broadcom Employee Sriram ChunchankatteMelukote posted Jul 02, 2025 02:16 AM

As was mentioned earlier the domainmanager.log will be useful to track all issues related to the VCF 9 installation. Apart from this below would be the other useful log files to track the corresponding issues:-

/var/log/vmware/vcf/lcm/: Contains logs related to Lifecycle Management operations, including pre-checks, patching, and post-checks.
/var/log/vmware/vcf/commonsvcs/: Logs for API login attempts and other common services in sddc manager.
/var/log/vmware/vcf/sddc-support/: Logs generated by the SoS tool, used for collecting and analyzing logs for troubleshooting.
/var/log/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/: Logs for certificate operations and other management tasks within the sddc Manager.

Jerard Chilton posted Jul 03, 2025 08:36 AM

Can someone help me Putty into the VCF Installer? I can view the UI.

I've tried the following users: root, admin, vcfadmin, admin@local with the usual VMware password but i can't get in to see the logs.

sdebarros posted Jul 03, 2025 08:47 AM