Category: vCenter Log Insight

vCenter Log Insight 1.5 Favorite New Features

In my previous post I noted my excitement about the upgrades in the future that will not require SSH access and running .rpm files as VMware is now doing updates much like vC Ops. While I think this is magnificent, it isn’t my favorite new feature within the new release. I would have to say that the direct integration to have ESXi logs sent directly to vCenter Log Insight 1.5 with configuration done through the appliance is my most welcome new feature. I am sure others will argue that some of the new features in the Dashboard for storage are their favorite new features, but the ability to configure ESXi hosts directly through the appliance is certainly my favorite new feature (if it existed before I am still excited as it is super simple now. Simply access the Administration of the appliance and then select vSphere below Integration. One then checks the box for ESXi hosts and most of the magic is done for you (you must click Save for the magic to happen and sorry for not stating that directly, but if you are reading this you probably figured something like that out already). If you want to see what hosts are configured you can select “View ESXi syslog configuration details…” to see what hosts are configured resolve any issues with configuration. Sorry for the lack of screenshots, but I thought of this posting after already going through the motions. If anyone has questions please feel free to reach out to me.

Upgrading VMware vCenter Log Insight to 1.5

The upgrade to VMware vCenter Log Insight 1.5 from a previous version (mine was 1.0.4-1169900) was fairly simple. First I had to grab the bits and was happy to see an rpm available for the upgrade. While the download was small (59MB) it made me think about how to install the rpm to the virtual appliance. I had never SSH’d into the machine so immediately I fired up Terminal on OSX and gave it ago. The admin username and password did not work immediately so I gave root a try with the same password and was again a failure. The cowboy in me was annoyed that I had to then look at documentation (somewhat kidding about being annoyed, but also wish these darn appliances just had an update section (think vCAC 6.0)). In the documentation I found Upgrade and within that I found the documentation for setting the root password to enable SSH. I would have to state that coming up with a root password was probably the most frustrating part of the installation as it needed to be more complex than my standard lab password (I like simple in the lab). Following the documentation for upgrading the appliance from the VMware Documentation Center was rather straightforward. Enjoy the updated appliance and hopefully we can find some new features in the future.

Update: after the upgrade I have done a little digging around and found that VMware has made it much like vC Ops in that in the future upgrades will be done by .pak files. This is a welcome addition to make the future much like vC Ops, but dang I wish there was an auto update feature like that of vCAC 6.0 Also to note, the Integration piece is broken into two parts for vSphere and vC Ops.