virtuallypotato/content/posts/using-vs-code-to-explore-giant-log-bundles/index.md

---
series: Tips
date: "2021-02-18T08:34:30Z"
thumbnail: PPZu_UOGO.png
usePageBundles: true
tags:
- logs
- vmware
title: Using VS Code to explore giant log bundles
toc: false
---

I recently ran into a peculiar issue after upgrading my vRealize Automation homelab to the new 8.3 release, and the error message displayed in the UI didn't give me a whole lot of information to work with:
![Unfortunately my 'Essential Googling The Error Message' O'RLY book was no help with making the bad words go away](IL29_Shlg.png)

I connected to the vRA appliance to try to find the relevant log excerpt, but [doing so isn't all that straightforward](https://www.stevenbright.com/2020/01/vmware-vrealize-automation-8-0-logs/#:~:text=Access%20Logs%20from%20the%20CLI) given the containerized nature of the services.
So instead I used the `vracli log-bundle` command to generate a bundle of all relevant logs, and I then transferred the resulting (2.2GB!) `log-bundle.tar` to my workstation for further investigation. I expanded the tar and ran `tree -P '*.log'` to get a quick idea of what I've got to deal with:
![That's a lot of logs!](wAa9KjBHO.png)
Ugh. Even if I knew which logs I wanted to look at (and I don't) it would take ages to dig through all of this. There's got to be a better way.

And there is! Visual Studio Code lets you open an entire directory tree in the editor:
![Directory opened in VS Code](SBKtJ8K1p.png)

You can then "Find in Files" with `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`F`, and VS Code will *very* quickly search through all the files to find what you're looking for:
![Searching all files](PPZu_UOGO.png)

You can also click the "Open in editor" link at the top of the search results to open the matching snippets  in a single view:
![All the matching strings together](kJ_l7gPD2.png)

Adjusting the number at the far top right of that view will dynamically tweak how many context lines are included with each line containing the search term.

In this case, the logs didn't actually tell me what was going wrong  - but I felt much better for having explored them! Maybe this little trick will help you track down what's ailing you.
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00			`---`
fix series tags in post front matter to enable Related Posts feature 2021-12-09 01:41:47 +00:00			`series: Tips`
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00			`date: "2021-02-18T08:34:30Z"`
convert existing posts to pageBundles 2021-12-21 04:43:57 +00:00			`thumbnail: PPZu_UOGO.png`
			`usePageBundles: true`
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00			`tags:`
			`- logs`
			`- vmware`
			`title: Using VS Code to explore giant log bundles`
			`toc: false`
			`---`

			`I recently ran into a peculiar issue after upgrading my vRealize Automation homelab to the new 8.3 release, and the error message displayed in the UI didn't give me a whole lot of information to work with:`
convert existing posts to pageBundles 2021-12-21 04:43:57 +00:00			`![Unfortunately my 'Essential Googling The Error Message' O'RLY book was no help with making the bad words go away](IL29_Shlg.png)`
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00
			`I connected to the vRA appliance to try to find the relevant log excerpt, but [doing so isn't all that straightforward](https://www.stevenbright.com/2020/01/vmware-vrealize-automation-8-0-logs/#:~:text=Access%20Logs%20from%20the%20CLI) given the containerized nature of the services.`
			So instead I used the `vracli log-bundle` command to generate a bundle of all relevant logs, and I then transferred the resulting (2.2GB!) `log-bundle.tar` to my workstation for further investigation. I expanded the tar and ran `tree -P '*.log'` to get a quick idea of what I've got to deal with:
convert existing posts to pageBundles 2021-12-21 04:43:57 +00:00			`![That's a lot of logs!](wAa9KjBHO.png)`
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00			`Ugh. Even if I knew which logs I wanted to look at (and I don't) it would take ages to dig through all of this. There's got to be a better way.`

			`And there is! Visual Studio Code lets you open an entire directory tree in the editor:`
convert existing posts to pageBundles 2021-12-21 04:43:57 +00:00			`![Directory opened in VS Code](SBKtJ8K1p.png)`
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00
			You can then "Find in Files" with `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`F`, and VS Code will very quickly search through all the files to find what you're looking for:
convert existing posts to pageBundles 2021-12-21 04:43:57 +00:00			`![Searching all files](PPZu_UOGO.png)`
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00
			`You can also click the "Open in editor" link at the top of the search results to open the matching snippets in a single view:`
convert existing posts to pageBundles 2021-12-21 04:43:57 +00:00			`![All the matching strings together](kJ_l7gPD2.png)`
initial hugo import 2021-12-04 02:14:40 +00:00
			`Adjusting the number at the far top right of that view will dynamically tweak how many context lines are included with each line containing the search term.`

			`In this case, the logs didn't actually tell me what was going wrong - but I felt much better for having explored them! Maybe this little trick will help you track down what's ailing you.`