How to Dump Install Logs to the Serial Port of the Virtual Machine

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Revision as of 21:17, 7 June 2011

Go to: Implementing Virtualization Deployments

Go to: Ongoing Virtualization Operations and Maintenance


Procedure

Follow this procedure to dump install logs to the serial port on the VM.

  1. Configure a Serial Port on the VM.
  2. When the VM is powered off, edit settings and add a serial port to the VM.
    Caution Caution: You cannot add one while the VM is running.
  3. Attach the serial port to a TMP file (see the TMP File section below).
  4. Power on the VM and start your installation.
  5. When you're ready to actually dump the log files, attach a new, empty file to the serial port.
  6. After the file is saved, open it using 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org/download.html)
  7. After a successful dump, power off the VM, edit settings and remove the serial port from the VM.
    Note Note: Leaving the serial port (or any other unnecessary virtual hardware) can negatively impact performance of the VM. There is no other use of the serial port in a Unified CM VM other than dumping the install logs, so you will not need it again unless you do a fresh install.

TMP File

You need attach a TMP file to the serial port for the folowing reason: When you boot-up a linux server, a few garbage characters (terminal escape sequences) are output to that port. These characters corrupt the TAR format of the file--when you dump logs into that file. To obtain a valid TAR file, you must connect the serial port to a new and empty file just before you dump log to it.

Once you prevent this data corruption, go back to the VM console and proceed to dump the logs to the serial port.


Failure Scenarios

If the systems halts due to an install failure, a window pops up to verify if you want to dump the logs.
Caution Caution: BEFORE you click Yes, edit settings on the VM and attach the actual file name where you want to dump the logs. Then click Yes.


Back to: Unified Communications in a Virtualized Environment

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