When VMware Cloud Providers have multiple data center locations, or their infrastructure is separated geographically, additional design considerations are often required. As highlighted previously, a typical vSphere environment will generate numerous log messages each day, and this amount will increase when issues or problems arise with systems. Being able to troubleshoot and find the root cause of a problem is critical, especially when the hardware or software in question is located in a different part of the country or in a different country from where the administrators and operational teams are working.

When designing a syslog solution that will span two or more physical locations, solution designers must understand the provider’s requirements, the constraints (such as bandwidth across WAN links), and the security risks associated with lost syslog data. In addition, in a multi-site syslog architecture, solution designers may want to consider the following: