In a recent customer conversation, I was asked a great question:
How do I log the logger?”

That is, how do you gain visibility into the logs generated by VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations for Logs itself? It’s a fair ask. When your central logging system becomes a black box, troubleshooting or validating its behavior can feel like flying blind. Fortunately, there’s a straightforward answer — and it’s built right in. The Solution: Configure the embedded Log Insight Agent (liagent)

The embedded liagent is VMware’s lightweight log forwarding agent. It’s already included in VCF Operations for Logs and is used to forward system-level logs from the appliance to itself or to another destination. With just a bit of configuration, you can use this agent to collect logs from the VCF Operations for Logs appliance itself — effectively “logging the logger.”

How to Configure the Embedded liagent

Step 1: SSH into the VCF Operations for Logs Appliance

Use a secure terminal session to connect to the appliance.

ssh root@<vcf-operations-for-logs-ip>

Step 2: Locate the liagent Configuration File

The liagent configuration file is located at:

/var/lib/loginsight-agent

Open it with your preferred text editor. Here I’m using trusty ole vi:

vi /var/lib/loginsight-agent/liagent.ini

Step 3: Enable Local Log Collection

The existing .ini file contains examples which are commented out. Therefore, uncomment the required lines and modify the values to reflect your environment. Detailed information on the file contents can be found in the docs, here.

Step 4: Restart the liagent Service

Once your configuration is saved, restart the service:

systemctl restart liagent

You can also check its status:

systemctl status liagent

What You Get

After configuration, you’ll be able to see logs such as:

• System messages from /var/log/messages
• Application logs from /var/log/vmware/
• Agent-specific logs to track its health and behavior

These logs will now show up in your desired Syslog aggregation system. Remember, do not point your VCF Ops for Logs system back at itself, thereby creating a recursive log inception.

Final Thoughts

So yes — you can log the logger.
With the embedded liagent configured, VCF Operations for Logs becomes more transparent and more resilient. You can now:

• Troubleshoot its own health issues
• Validate ingestion behavior
• Monitor internal operations just like you would any other platform component

If a log falls in the data center and no one is listening…well, now you are. Happy logging!