Resolving Upgrade Issue with PAM 4.1.X to 4.2.1 on VMware returning the error PAM_CMN-0020: Error occurred while trying to complete request (76) during the update process.

Products

• CA Privileged Access Manager (PAM)

Issue/Introduction

The upgrade from version 4.1.X to 4.2.1 was intermittently causing nodes to hang during the application of the upgrade patch. This resulted in a 30-minute delay per node due to necessary reboots. The error was initially thought to be related to MySQL performance issues.

Cause

The underlying issue was identified to be within the VMware layer, specifically related to the use of VMware snapshots. The re-encryption process against the VMware snapshot and VM machine was interfering with the PAM upgrade process, triggering the error and necessitating a reboot after the Vmware Snapshot to be possible go with the PAM upgrade Patch.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the following solution was implemented:

•     Use VMware Clone Instead of Snapshot:

Instead of performing a VMware snapshot prior to the upgrade, use the VMware clone feature.
This change avoids the re-encryption conflict and eliminates the error, allowing the upgrade process to complete without unnecessary delays.

Always follow steps from documentation Upgrading PAM