What is MultiCore Virtual CPU?

VMware multicore virtual CPU support lets you control the number of cores per virtual CPU in a virtual machine. This capability lets operating systems with socket restrictions use more of the host CPU's cores, which increases overall performance.

You can configure how the virtual CPUs are assigned in terms of sockets and cores. For example, you can configure a virtual machine with four virtual CPUs in the following ways:

* Four sockets with one core per socket
* Two sockets with two cores per socket
* One socket with four cores per socket

Using multicore virtual CPUs can be useful when you run operating systems or applications that can take
advantage of only a limited number of CPU sockets. Previously, each virtual CPU was, by default, assigned
to a single-core socket, so that the virtual machine would have as many sockets as virtual CPUs.

When you configure multicore virtual CPUs for a virtual machine, CPU hot Add/remove is disabled.
For more information about multicore CPUs, see the vSphere Resource Management Guide. You can also search the VMware KNOVA database for articles about multicore CPUs.

CAUTION You must assign a value to configuration parameter keywords. If you don't assign a value, the
keyword can return a value of 0, false, or disable, which can result in a virtual machine that cannot power on.

Prerequisites

IMPORTANT To use the VMware multicore virtual CPU feature, you must be in compliance with the
requirements of the operating system EULA.

* Verify that the virtual machine is powered off.
* Verify that you have virtual machine hardware version 7 or later.
* Verify that the total number of virtual CPUs for the virtual machine divided by the number of cores per
   socket is a positive integer.

VMware Log Locations & Descriptions

The vCenter Server logs can be viewed from:

• The vSphere Client connected to vCenter Server (click Home > Administration > System Logs)
• The vSphere Client connected to VirtualCenter Server (click Administration > System Logs).

The logs are located in %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs, which translates to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VirtualCenter\logs in Windows 2003 and C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs in Windows 2008.

 

The vCenter Server logs appear as vpxd-xx.log.

 

The vpxd-profiler-xx.log is used for the VPX Operational Dashboard (VOD),which can be accessed via https:///vod/index.html.

• Vmkernel – /var/log/vmkernel – records activities related to the virtual machines and ESX server.


• Vmkernel Warnings – /var/log/vmkwarning – This log is a copy of everything marked as a warning or higher severity from vmkernel log. It is much easier to look through this for warnings and errors, instead of filtering through the full information in the vmkernel logs.

• Vmkernel Summary – /var/log/vmksummary – Used to determine uptime and availability statistics for ESX Server; human-readable summary found in /var/log/vmksummary.txt

• ESX Server host agent log – /var/log/vmware/hostd.log – Contains information on the agent that manages and configures the ESX Server host and its virtual machines (Search the file date/time stamps to find the log file it is currently outputting to).

• Service Console – /var/log/messages – This log is the log from the Linux kernel (service console), which is generally only potentially useful in the case of a host hang, crash, authentication issue, or 3rd party app acting up. This log has NOTHING to do with virtual machines. The SERVICE CONSOLE (red hat kernel) has NO awareness of the VMs (worlds) running on the VMKERNEL.

Location of Logs & Brief note on that

• Web Access – /var/log/vmware/webAccess – Records information on Web-based access to ESX Server.

• Authentication log – /var/log/secure – Contains records of connections that require authentication, such as VMware daemons and actions initiated by the xinetd daemon.

• VirtualCenter agent – /var/log/vmware/vpx – Contains information on the agent that communicates with VirtualCenter.

• Virtual Machines – The same directory as the affected virtual machine’s configuration files; named vmware.log – Contain information when a virtual machine crashes or ends abnormally.

/var/log/vmkernel Vmkernel Records activities related to the virtual machines and ESX host

/var/log/vmkwarning Vmkernel Warnings A copy of everything marked as a warning or higher severity from vmkernel log. Easier to look through than vmkernel log

/var/log/vmksummary Vmkernel Summary Used for avaialability and uptime statistics. Human-readable summary in vmksummary.txt

/var/log/vmware/hostd.log Host Agent Log Contains information on the agent that manages and configures the ESX host and its virtual machines

/var/log/vmware/vpx VirtualCenter Agent Contains information on the agent that communicates with VirtualCenter

/var/log/messages Service Console Log from the Linux kernel. Useful for underlying Linux issues. The kernel has no awareness of VMs running on the VMkernel

/var/log/vmware/esxcfg-boot.log ESX Boot Log ESX Boot log, logs all ESX boot events

/var/log/vmware/webAccess Web Access Records information on Web-based access to ESX Server

/var/log/secure Authentication Log Contains records of connections that require authentication, such as VMware daemons and actions initiated by the xinetd daemon

/var/log/vmware/esxcfg-firewall.log ESX Firewall Log Contains all firewall rule events

/var/log/vmware/aam High Availability Log Contains information related to the High Availability (HA) service

/var/log/vmware/esxupdate.log ESX Update Log Logs all updates completed using the esxupdate tool

There’s a new Knowledgebase article on this here: VMware KB: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1021806 Location of log files for VMware products