Logging Events; Applying Configuration Settings - VMware ACE Management Server Administrator's Manual

When you click Upload certificates, a summary page displays the files and locations you specify on this tab.
Note the location of any backup files. You might need to use the backup if you find that the new file is invalid
when you click Apply. See "Restore a Backup Copy of an SSL Certificate" on page 52.
After you upload custom SSL certificates, you must update any existing ACE‐enabled virtual machines to use
a new certificate and key file. To do so, use Workstation to create an update package. When you deploy the
new package, ACE instances receive the new certificate file and certificate chain.

Logging Events

The server collects log entries for events that change the database. On the Logging tab, you can set the logging
levels and set an option for purging log entries.
ACE Management Server uses the following logging categories:

ACE Administration – Logs events for instance creation, update, and destruction.

Package Administration – Logs events for package creation, update, instance customization, and package
removal.

Policy Administration – Logs events for policy‐set update and publish, user access control changes, and
instance passwords set by an ACE administrator.

Instance Administration – Logs ACE instance life‐cycle events, such as creation, copying, revocation,
reenablement, and deletion. Also logs instance password change by a user or an administrator, changes
in expiration for each instance, changes of instance guest or host operating system information, and
setting instance custom fields. The debug level can be used to log the most ubiquitous traffic such as
policy update requests from active instances. Failed instance verifications are logged only at the debug
level.

Authentication – Logs events for every authentication request, such as administration or help desk
authentication attempts (at the normal level), instance authentication (at the informational level), and
remote LDAP password change. Set logging for this category to the lowest level that is practical for you.
This category can generate a large volume of entries.
For each category, you can choose one of the following logging levels:

None – No log entry is made for this event.

Critical – An example of a critical log event is one that removes all packages, instances, and policies
associated with an ACE‐enabled virtual machine.

Normal – This level of detail is sufficient to answer most queries.

Informative – Entries for nondestructive events that have limited effect.

Debug – Entries for every client access of the server. It provides more records of certain event types,
creating a large number logging entries compared to other log levels. It logs all informational transactions,
such as instance status and so on.
Use the Event Log Purging control to configure the amount of logging information retained. The purge
maintenance process runs approximately every six hours.
If you make changes to the information on the Logging tab, you must click Apply or Cancel before you can
navigate to another tab.

Applying Configuration Settings

The Restart page appears when you click Apply on one of the tabs. You must restart the server for the
configuration settings to take effect.
If you click Later, you can always restart the server by clicking Apply on any of the tabs, even if you do not
make changes on the tab.
VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Configuration Options for ACE Management Server
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