Downloading patches on vCenter Update Manager fails with the error: Check the Internet connectivity

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• You are unable to download patches directly from the internet on vCenter Update Manager.
• The test connection succeeds, but the patch download URLs display as Not Connected.
• When attempting to download patches, you see the error:
  
  Download patch definitions from Web sites: https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/i-ndex.xml;https://hostupdate.v-mware.com/software/VUM/PR-ODUCTION/csco-main-index.xml; hosting the patch definitions and patches cannot be accessed or have no patch data. Check the Internet connectivity.
   
• In the vmware-vum-server-log4cpp.log, you see entires similar to:
  
  [14:11:06:726 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 205] Inserted download job {106085976} to queue
  [14:11:06:726 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 225] Current download count: 0
  [14:11:06:726 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 241] Current download count: 1
  [14:11:06:726 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 247] Adding download job {106085976} to scheduler
  [14:11:06:726 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 267] Waiting for download job {106085976} to finish...
  [14:11:06:726 'DownloadMgr' 10508 INFO] [downloadMgr, 378] Executing download job {106085976}, url=https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/csco-main-index.xml
  [14:11:06:727 'httpDownload' 10508 INFO] [httpDownload, 571] Downloading https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/csco-main-index.xml via proxy x.x.x.x:8080
  [14:11:07:223 'httpDownload' 10508 INFO] [httpDownload, 791] Status code: 200
  [14:11:07:238 'DownloadMgr' 10508 INFO] [downloadMgr, 420] Removing existing dest file:C:\Windows\TEMP\vcicrsdewey.tmp
  [14:11:07:238 'DownloadMgr' 10508 INFO] [downloadMgr, 463] Download job {106085976} finished, bytes downloaded = 3692; notify all
  [14:11:07:238 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 273] Download job {106085976} finished
  [14:11:07:238 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 286] Removing download job {106085976} in queue
  [14:11:07:238 'DownloadMgr' 4936 DEBUG] [downloadMgr, 305] Current download count: 0
  [14:11:28:253 'HostUpdateDepotManager' 4936 WARN] [updateDownloaderImpl, 201] download file error, retrying: not valid xml file, parsing failed.
  [14:11:28:253 'HostUpdateDepotManager' 4936 ERROR] [updateDownloaderImpl, 210] failed to download file: https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/csco-main-index.xml
  [14:11:28:253 'VciSigUpdateTask.SigUpdateTask{234}' 4936 INFO] [vciSigUpdateTask, 781] No new 4.x host updates.
  [14:11:28:264 'VciSigUpdateTask.SigUpdateTask{234}' 4936 ERROR] [vciSigUpdateTask, 795] The following urls do not contain ESX 4x and third party update urls:https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/index.xml;https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/csco-main-index.xml;
  
  Note: The default locations of the vmware-vum-server-log4cpp.log file:
  • Windows 2008 and later operating systems: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Update Manager\Logs\
  • Windows XP, 2000, and 2003: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\Update Manager

Environment

VMware vCenter Update Manager 5.5.x
VMware Update Manager 6.0
VMware vCenter Update Manager 6.5.x

Cause

This issue occurs when:

1. The domain admin user logged in to the vCenter Update Manager server does not have privileges to access the patch download URL from the proxy server.
2. The proxy server requires authentication for requests from the vCenter Update Manager server.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, perform one or both of these options:

• Ensure the user has permission to access the vCenter Update Manager server on the proxy server.
• Set a rule on the proxy server to bypass authentication for requests coming from the vCenter Update Manager server.

Additional Information

For more information:

VMware vSphere Update Manager 5.x or 6.0 fails to download patches and scan a host