ESXi host fails to run profile update command

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

ESXi host fails profile update with image downloaded from hostupdate.vmware.com with generic error.

Environment

• An ESXi host being updated using a command similar to the one below will fail with an error similar to this, "could not parse vbs xml":
  • esxcli software profile update --depot=<depot_location> --profile=<profile_name>
• The /var/log/esxupdate.log file will not indicate any problems installing the update. There could also be entries in the esxupdate.log that indicate the VIB file is downloaded to the /tmp directory without any issues. 
• Looking at the /var/log/vmkernel.log you may see errors about a process that is requesting memory that is not available. Along with errors in regards unpacking or installing VIBs. 
• If you run the command, ls -alh /tmp it may look similar to the example below, or have other files that are taking up space. 
• 
• In this example there is a 1.5 MB file, and some other file (simsOpLock.lock.LOCK) that is not in the /tmp directory by default.

Cause

If there is not enough space in the /tmp directory on the ESXi host, it will prevent the VIB from extracting which is part of the update process. 

Resolution

It should be safe to delete any files from the /tmp directory since it is a temporary directory by default. These files can be moved to another location as well, rebooting the ESXi host will also clear out the /tmp directory.