VMWare Helpful Shell commands

Log Files 

From the vCenter Server, investigate the vsphere_client_virgo.log file located at:
Windows vCenter Server – C:\ProgamData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\vsphere-client\logs\
vCenter Server Appliance – /var/log/vmware/vsphere-client/logs/

Also, look at the vpxd.log file located at:
Windows vCenter Server: C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\vmware-vpx
vCenter Server Appliance: /var/log/vmware/vpxd

How to Delete Files and Folders via SSH

The command in its simplest form looks like:

rm myFile.txt myFile1.txt myFile2.txt

However, listing all files/folders that need to be deleted can be quite time-consuming. Fortunately, rm accepts several arguments which can ease your task. In the above example, you could type:

rm myFile*.txt

This will match all files starting with ‘myFile’ and ending in ‘.txt’ and delete them.

To delete a whole folder and its content recursively, you can use:

rm -rf foldername/

To delete all files/folders in the current directory, without deleting the directory itself, you would need to use:

rm -rf *

List of VMDKs/Partitions for a vCenter Server 7.0 – Size Mount point and Purpose (78515)

The sizes provided are generated from a vCenter Server 7.0 deployed using a Tiny specification with a Default Storage Size. Your environment may differ depending on the sizing used. File names follow traditional VMDK naming conventions and as such, VMDK1 will be vmname.vmdk, and VMDK2 will be vmname_1.vmdk, and so forth.

Disk
(VMDK)
Default Size
(Tiny with Default Storage Size)
Mount Point Purpose
VMDK1 48GB / (46GB)
/boot (132MB)
SWAP (1GB)
Directory where the kernel images and boot loader configurations are stored.
VMDK2 1.8GB /tmp Directory used to store temporary files generated or used by services from vCenter Server
VMDK3 25GB SWAP Directory used when the system is out of memory to swap to disk
VMDK4 25GB /storage/core Directory where core dumps from VPXD process from the vCenter Server are stored
VMDK5 10GB /storage/log Directory where vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller store all logs for the environment
VMDK6 10GB /storage/db VMware Postgres database storage location
VMDK7 5GB /storage/dblog VMware Postgres database logging location
VMDK8 10GB /storage/seat Stats, Events, Alarms and Tasks (SEAT) directory for VMware Postgres
VMDK9 1GB /storage/netdump VMware Netdump collector repository that stores ESXi dumps
VMDK10 10GB /storage/autodeploy VMware Auto Deploy repository that stores the thinpackages used for stateless booting of ESXi hosts
VMDK11 10GB /storage/imagebuilder VMware Image Builder repository that stores the vSphere image profiles, software depots and VIB packages, such as driver VIBs and update VIBs.
VMDK12 100GB /storage/updatemgr VMware Update Manager repository where patches and updates are stored for Virtual Machine and ESXi hosts
VMDK13 50GB /storage/archive VMware Postgres database’s Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) location
VMDK14 10GB /storage/vtsdb VMware vTSDB Service Repository that stores the stats
VMDK15 5GB /storage/vtsdblog VMware vTSDB Service Repository that stores the logs of the service
VMDK16 100GB /storage/lifecycle Workload Control Plane service stage directory or software depot, this stores the binaries for install and update/upgrade.