Attempting to update ESXi hosts from vCenter Lifecycle Manager fails with error "Host cannot download files from VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager patch store"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• Attempting to update ESXi hosts from vCenter Lifecycle Manager fails with error "Host cannot download files from VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager patch store. Check the network connectivity and firewall setup, and check esxupdate logs for details."


• The ESXi log file /var/run/log/esxupdate.log shows below events during the download of metadata zip files.
   
  

  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: raise DownloaderError(self.url, self.local, str(e))
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: vmware.esximage.Downloader.DownloaderError: ('https://<vCenter Server FQDN/IP>:9087/vum/repository/hostupdate/ESXi-7.0-Addon-cumulative_metadata.zip', '/tmp/#####', '<urlopen error [Errno 104] Connection reset by peer>')
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: Traceback (most recent call last):
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: EsxupdateLivePatcherMount.InitCommand(command, cmdArgs, options.meta,
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: File "/usr/sbin/esxupdate", line 199, in InitCommand
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: meta = Transaction.Transaction.DownloadMetadatas([url],
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: raise Errors.MetadataDownloadError(metaUrl, None, str(e))
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ:46Z Er(11) esxupdate[<PID>]: vmware.esximage.Errors.MetadataDownloadError: ('https://<vCenter Server FQDN/IP>:9087/vum/repository/hostupdate/ESXi-7.0-Addon-cumulative_metadata.zip', None, "('https://<vCenter Server FQDN/IP>:9087/vum/repository/hostupdate/ESXi-7.0-Addon-cumulative_metadata.zip', '/tmp/tmpasa9_g8c', '<urlopen error [Errno 104] Connection reset by peer>')")('https://<vCenter Server FQDN/IP>:9087/vum/repository/hostupdate/CIS/CIS-ESXi-7.0-Addon-vCenter.domain.com:9087/vum/repository/hostupdate/CIS/CIS-ESXi-7.0-Addon-cumulative metadata.zip',"/tmp/tmp2xgcgefz','<urlopen error timed out>')*)
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ: Db(15) esxupdate[<PID>]: <<<
  (END

  
  
  
• The vCenter server log file /var/log/vmware/vmware-updatemgr/vum-server/vum-server.log shows below events:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z error vmware-vum-server [#####] [Originator@6876 sub=HostUpdateDepotManager] [scanHost#####] results for host: ESXi-hostname (entity: host-#####) shows error :
> ----- Results Begin (ESXi-hostname) ----
> <esxupdate-response>
<version>1.50</version>
error errorClas5="MetadataDownloadError">
<errorCode>4</errorCode>
<errorDesc>Failed to download metadata. </errorDesc>
<url>https://<vCenter Server FQDN/IP>:9087/vum/repository/hostupdate/CIS/CIS-ESXi-7.0-Addon-cumulative_metadata.zip</url>
<localfile>None</localfile>
<mag>('https://<vCenter Server FQDN/IP>:9087/vum/repository/hostupdate/CIS/CIS-ESXi-7.0-Addon-cumulative_metadata.zip', '/tmp/#####', 'alt; urlopen error timed out&gt; ') </msg>
error
-> </esxupdate-response>
-> ----- Results End (ESXi-hostname) -----
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z error vmware-vum-server[#####] [Originator@6876 sub=HostUpdateDepotManager] [scanHost#####] esxupdate download failed.
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z error vmware-vum-server[#####] [Originator@6876 sub=HostUpdateDepotManager] [scanHost#####] [backtrace begin] product: VMware Update Manager, version: 8.0.3, build: build-24022515, tag: vmware-vum-server, cpu: x86_64, os: linux, buildType: release
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z error vmware-vum-server[#####] [Originator@6876 sub=SingleHostScanTask.SingleHostScanTask(24)] [singleHostScanTask 408] SingleHostScan caught exception: esxupdate download failed. with code: 1
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.Z error vmware-vum-server[#####] [Originator@6876 sub=SingleHostScanTask.SingleHostScanTask(24)] [vciTaskBase 714] Task execution has failed: Fault cause: integrity. fault.HostPatchEsxFileDownloadFailure)

Environment

vCenter server 8.0 Update 3

Cause

vCenter Server 8.0U3 GA introduces vCenter server-ESXi communication over port 9087 for patching workflow. Prior versions of vCenter server was leveraging port 9084 for the above configuration.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware vCenter Server 8.0 Update 3a Build 24091160 and later. The fix restores functionality on port 9084.

Refer to VMware vCenter Server 8.0 Update 3a Release Notes