Checking for updates in the vRA appliance fails on "Checking for available updates..."

Products

• VMware Aria Suite
• VMware Live Recovery
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When you log in to the vRealize Automation VAMI page and click Update tab > Check Updates, you experience these symptoms:

• Last Check status changes to Checking for available updates...
• Check Updates option is grayed out.
• Unable to break out of this loop to update settings.
• Rebooting the vRealize Automation appliance does not break the loop.

The issue is not specific to vRA and can affect other VMware products that leverage the same vami update mechanism. For example the vSphere Replicaiton Virtual Appliance

Environment

VMware vCloud Automation Center for Server 6.0.x
VMware vSphere Replication 6.x

Resolution

To resolve the issue:

 

1. Connect to vRealize Automation using root credentials through SSH.
2. Stop the vami-sfcb service by running this command:
   
   /etc/init.d/vami-sfcb stop
    
3. Back up the provider-runtime.xml file by running this command:
   
   cp /opt/vmware/var/lib/vami/update/provider/provider-runtime.xml ~/provider-runtime.xml.bck
    
4. Build a new skeleton for the provider-runtime.xml file by running this command:
   
   echo -e '<service>\n <properties />\n</service>' > /opt/vmware/var/lib/vami/update/provider/provider-runtime.xml
    
5. Start the vami-sfcb service by running this command:
   
   /etc/init.d/vami-sfcb start
    
6. Log back into the Appliance VAMI and the ability to click Check Updates is restored.

Note: The location of these files in vSphere Replication 8.x is: /opt/vmware/var/lib/vami/system/provider/