General Best Practices

When troubleshooting, it is recommended that you follow some general best practices:

• Take a snapshot. Before you do anything to a virtual machine running Photon OS, take a snapshot of the VM so that you can restore it if need be.

• Make a backup copy. Before you change a configuration file, make a copy of the original file. For example: cp /etc/tdnf/tdnf.conf /etc/tdnf/tdnf.conf.orig

• Collect logs. Save the log files associated with a Photon OS problem. Include not only the log files on the guest but also the vmware.log file on the host. The vmware.log file is in the host’s directory that contains the VM.

• Know what is in your toolbox. View the man page for a tool before you use it so that you know what your options are. The options can help focus the command’s output on the problem you’re trying to solve.

• Understand the system. The more you know about the operating system and how it works, the better you can troubleshoot.