As customer start to deploy ESXi on smaller SD Cards or Boot from SAN, they encounter the following error after installing a new host:

“System logs are stored on non-persistent storage”

This error just indicates that you need to save your scratch logs to another location, (shared storage or local disk). The process is super easy. To change the location, use on of the following methods:

Verifying the Location of System Logs in vSphere Client

To verify the location:

1. In vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory panel.
2. Click the Configuration tab, then click Advanced Settings under Software.
3. Ensure that Syslog.global.logDir points to a persistent location.The directory should be specified as [datastorename] path_to_file where the path is relative to the datastore. For example, [datastore1] /systemlogs.
4. If the Syslog.global.logDir field is empty or explicitly points to a scratch partition, make sure that the field ScratchConfig.CurrentScratchLocation shows a location on persistent storage.

Verifying the Location of System Logs in vSphere Web Client

To verify the location:

1. Browse to the host in the vSphere Web Client navigator.
2. Click the Manage tab, then click Settings.
3. Under System, click Advanced System Settings.
4. Ensure that Syslog.global.logDir points to a persistent location.
5. If the field Syslog.global.logDir is empty or points to a scratch partition, make sure that the field ScratchConfig.CurrentScratchLocation shows a location on persistent storage.