For ESXi host-side crash analysis the two indispensable log files are produced by the VMkernel itself:

• vmkernel.log – records scheduler, storage, network, device-driver and CPU exception details that directly reveal panic or PSOD causes.

• vmkwarning.log – a real-time subset of vmkernel messages containing warnings and non-fatal hardware errors that often precede a crash.

VMware and HPE service guides instruct collecting these two files first when a ProLiant server running ESXi experiences a purple-screen or unexpected reboot.

C. BIOS logs – Stored by iLO/BIOS, helpful for firmware or POST issues but they do not capture VMkernel panics occurring after ESXi boots.

D. Lustre logs – Lustre is a parallel file system for HPC; its logs exist only when the software is installed and are unrelated to a vanilla ESXi hypervisor crash.

1. VMware KB 1004795 “Location of ESXi log files

” Table 1 (vmkernel.log & vmkwarning.log listed as primary diagnostic files for PSOD)

2. VMware vSphere 8.0 Documentation > Monitoring and Troubleshooting > “Collecting ESXi Host Log Files”

section “Kernel and Warning Logs”

para 2.

3. HPE ProLiant Gen10 Troubleshooting Guide for VMware ESXi

chap 6 “Purple Screen of Death (PSOD)”

pp. 95-96 (lists vmkernel.log & vmkwarning.log as mandatory attachments for HPE Support).

4. MIT OpenCourseWare 6.033 “System Diagnostics” lecture notes

slide 14 (uses ESXi vmkernel/vmkwarning examples for crash forensics).