Knowledge

• Understand general ESX Server troubleshooting guidelines
  VMware maintains some documentation and Self Service guides to troubleshoot issues wih VMware ESX / vSphere. I searched the Internet and the VMware website but there is no chapter ”Trouble shoot” or what so ever. So I put something together myself:
  • Is the problem reproducible?
  • Can you find anything in the log files
  • Are you using the latest version / patches?
  • Are there other people who have the same problem / symptoms and do they have a solution?
  • Familiar with the VMware community forums? Post your problem.
  • If all else fails: Contact VMware Support and send the the generated support log files.
• Troubleshoot common installation issues
  When installing there can be several installation issues. Troubleshooting might be difficult, but I have written down some things that go wrong quite often.
  • After installation your ESX server does not boot
    • You have installed ESX on to a LUN instead of the local hard drive (possibly over writing VMFS partitions). Solve by reinstalling and before starting the installation hide the LUNs presented to the server
    • You intentionally installed ESX to a LUN (boot from SAN) but ESX does not boot. Solve by adjusting the HBA BIOS to boot from LUN and by selecting the correct LUN.
    • You have selected the wrong boot device in the BIOS of the server
  • After installation you cannot reach the server via the network
    • The VLAN configuration on your Switch or Service Console is misconfigured
    • Routing is not configured
    • There is no Default Gateway defined for the Service Console Network
    • The Firewall on ESX does not allow you to connect you the protocol you intent
• Monitor ESX Server system health
  You can use the vCenter Hardware Status plug-in to monitor you server hardware. This default plug-in shows you CIM hardware sensor information like temperature, fan rotation speed etc.
• Understand how to export diagnostic data
  You can download log files of ESX hosts via the vSphere client. To do so:
  • Goto File in the vSphere Client
  • Select Export
  • Select “Export System logs…”
    
  • Select the ESX host you would like to export log files from, optionally you can download them to a specified location.
    

Tools

• ESX/ESXi and vCenter Server Installation Guides
• Product Documentation
• vSphere Client

Additionel Links

• Performance and Troubleshooting Guide - Thanks to Milopez using the comment system