Unable to check updates via vCenter VAMI, receiving an error as "List operation failed, please try again"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

vCenter VAMI >> Update tab shows an error as - List operation failed, please try again.

VAMI is not listing vCenter patches/updates

Environment

• vCenter Server Appliance 7.x
• vCenter Server Appliance 8.x

Cause

/storage/core partition full on the vCenter.

We see below log entries in applmgmt.log

yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss PM CET [13052]DEBUG:vmware.appliance.update.update_b2b:Discovering updates
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss PM CET [13052]DEBUG:vmware.appliance.update.update_b2b:Looking for updates locally and from URL
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss PM CET [13052]DEBUG:vmware.appliance.update.update_functions:Can't remove directory /storage/core/software-update/updates: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/storage/core/software-update/updates'
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss PM CET [13052]ERROR:vmware.appliance.update.update_functions:Failed to create directory /storage/core/software-update/updates: [Errno 28] No space left on device: '/storage/core/software-update/updates'
yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss PM CET [13052]DEBUG:vmware.appliance.update.update_pending:Got exception during listing updates Failed to create directory /storage/core/software-update/updates

Resolution

** Take a valid snapshot of the vCenter Server (offline snapshots if in Enhanced Linked Mode environment) prior to making any changes.

 

1. Log into vCenter Server through SSH session as root and run shell 
2. Confirm /storage/core is full using 'df -h' command.
3. Access the partition with 'cd'/storage/core'.
4. Identify the Irrelevant log bundles, VC service core dumps, log files etc from the partition and delete/remove them to empty the space.
5. Restart vcenter services using below command :
   
   1. service-control --stop --all && service-control --start --all
6. Now we should be able to list the patches in Updates tab in VC VAMI page.