VMCH-70-000026 - Log size must be configured properly on the virtual machine (VM).

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Information

The ESXi hypervisor maintains logs for each individual VM by default. These logs contain information including but not limited to power events, system failure information, tools status and activity, time sync, virtual hardware changes, vMotion migrations, and machine clones.

By default, the size of these logs is unlimited, and they are only rotated on vMotion or power events. This can cause storage issues at scale for VMs that do not vMotion or power cycle often.

Solution

From the vSphere Client, select the Virtual Machine, right-click, and go to Edit Settings >> VM Options tab >> Advanced >> Configuration Parameters >> Edit Configuration.

Find the 'log.rotateSize' value and set it to '2048000'.

Note: The VM must be powered off to modify the advanced settings through the vSphere Client. It is recommended to configure these settings with PowerCLI as this can be done while the VM is powered on. In this case, the modified settings will not take effect until a cold boot of the VM.

or

From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host or vCenter server, run the provided commands as shown below.

If the setting does not exist, run:

Get-VM 'VM Name' | New-AdvancedSetting -Name log.rotateSize -Value 2048000

If the setting exists, run:

Get-VM 'VM Name' | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name log.rotateSize | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 2048000

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_VMW_vSphere_7-0_Y23M07_STIG.zip

Item Details

References: CAT|II, CCI|CCI-000366, Rule-ID|SV-256474r886465_rule, STIG-ID|VMCH-70-000026, Vuln-ID|V-256474

Plugin: VMware

Control ID: 38cceb45fe0d51869e16175c0315b3fe90ee8aa33a0dead0a11798c3eeeef15c