vCenter Patch Fails With Error "Invalid Type, expected String, instead got NoneType"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• For 7.0 vCenter appliance patch fails with the error "Invalid Type, expected String, instead got NoneType" at 88%
• For 8.0 vCenter appliance patch fails with the error " Pre-Install Failed for NetDumper.Expand"

Log file location: /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/PatchRunner.log

YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SSZ netdumper:Expand ERROR vmware_b2b.patching.executor.hook_executor Patch hook 'netdumper:Expand' failed.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/storage/seat/software-updateo063q_hp/stage/scripts/patches/py/vmware_b2b/patching/executor/hook_executor.py", line 74, in executeHook
    executionResult = systemExtension(args)
  File "/storage/seat/software-updateo063q_hp/stage/scripts/patches/libs/sdk/extensions.py", line 106, in __call__
    result = self.extension(*args)
  File "/storage/seat/software-updateo063q_hp/stage/scripts/patches/libs/sdk/extensions.py", line 123, in _func
    return func(*args)
  File "/storage/seat/software-updateo063q_hp/stage/scripts/patches/payload/components-script/netdumper/__init__.py", line 116, in expand
    os.rename(NETDUMPER_DIR, NETDUMPER_BACKUP_DIR)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/core/netdumps' -> '/var/core/netdumps_backup' 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SSZ ERROR vmware_b2b.patching.utils.phase_utils Patch hook Expand got ComponentError.
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
...
...  
patch_errors.ComponentError 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SSZ WARNING root stopping status aggregation... 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SSZ ERROR __main__ Pre-patch vCSA failed

Cause

Netdumps and Netdump_backup directory is not present under the /var/core location.

Resolution

To resolve this issue follow the below steps

1. Create netdumps and netdump_backup directories under /var/core with the following ownership.

1. • cd /var/core
   • mkdir netdumps
   • mkdir netdumps_backup
   • chown netdumper:netdumper netdumps
   • chown netdumper:netdumper netdumps_backup
2. Assign required read permissions to both the directories :
   • chmod 700 netdumps
   • chmod 700 netdumps_backup
3. Retry patching the vCenter Server.