Sync Updates via UMDS fails with error: "A depot is inaccessible or has invalid contents" if proxy is enabled on the vCenter Server.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Performing Sync Updates with UMDS configured as download source on vCenter server fails.
• The issue is not seen if the proxy is disabled.
• Below given error will be visible in vCenter  - /var/log/vmware/vmware-updatemgr/vum-server/vmware-vum-server.log

error vmware-vum-server[11126] [Originator@6876 sub=com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.SyncDepotsTask] [SyncDepotsTask 221] Failed to sync depots. Merged depot content is invalid: Error:
--> com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.error
--> Messages:
--> com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.depotContent.ValidationError: Depot is inaccessible or has invalid contents. Make sure an official depot source is used and verify connection to the depot.

 

Cause

When vCenter is configured with a proxy server, the Sync Updates module tries to download updates from UMDS via the proxy. In environments where vCenter server does not need to go through proxy to connect to the UMDS server and proxy is being used only for outbound connections, this task would fail as there is no route from the proxy to UMDS server.

Resolution

To resolve errors while performing  "Sync Updates" when using UMDS on vCenter server having proxy enabled, we can workaround this issue by configuring the "no_proxy" variable to include the hostname / IP address of the UMDS server.

1. Log in to vCenter server via SSH. 
   
   
2. Edit the proxy configuration file on vCenter navigate to the location of the proxy file: cd /etc/sysconfig/
   
   
3. View the proxy file: cat /etc/sysconfig/proxy


Example of a default proxy file

# Enable a generation of the proxy settings to the profile.
# This setting allows to turn the proxy on and off while
# preserving the particular proxy setup.
#
PROXY_ENABLED="yes"

# Some programs (e.g. wget) support proxies, if set in
# the environment.
# Example: HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
HTTP_PROXY=""

# Example: HTTPS_PROXY="https://proxy.example.com:3128/"
HTTPS_PROXY=""

# Example: FTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
FTP_PROXY=""

# Example: GOPHER_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
GOPHER_PROXY=""

# Example: SOCKS_PROXY="socks://proxy.example.com:8080"
SOCKS_PROXY=""

# Example: SOCKS5_SERVER="office-proxy.example.com:8881"
SOCKS5_SERVER=""

# Example: NO_PROXY="www.me.de, do.main, localhost"
NO_PROXY="localhost, 127.0.0.1"
   
   
4. Use VI editor to add the hostname/IP address of the UMDS server under "NO_PROXY"
(in this example, umdsserver.example.com is the name of UMDS server).

vi /etc/sysconfig/proxy

# Enable a generation of the proxy settings to the profile.
# This setting allows to turn the proxy on and off while
# preserving the particular proxy setup.
#
PROXY_ENABLED="yes"

# Some programs (e.g. wget) support proxies, if set in
# the environment.
# Example: HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
HTTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128"

# Example: HTTPS_PROXY="https://proxy.example.com:3128/"
HTTPS_PROXY=""

# Example: FTP_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
FTP_PROXY=""

# Example: GOPHER_PROXY="http://proxy.example.com:3128/"
GOPHER_PROXY=""

# Example: SOCKS_PROXY="socks://proxy.example.com:8080"
SOCKS_PROXY=""

# Example: SOCKS5_SERVER="office-proxy.example.com:8881"
SOCKS5_SERVER=""

# Example: NO_PROXY="www.me.de, do.main, localhost"
NO_PROXY="localhost, 127.0.0.1, umdsserver.example.com"
   
   
5. Save the file and exit.
:wq!
   
   
6. Reboot vCenter Server for the changes to take effect.