While upgrading ESXi host using vLCM, we receive the error "VMware vSphere Lifecycle Manager had an unknown error. Check the events and log files for details"

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Issue happens when scanning for upgrade and not for patching.
• At the time of the issue, we see below errors in Log file
  
  
  Log File: /var/log/vmware/vmware-updatemgr/vum-server/vmware-vum-server.log 

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vmware-vum-server[72658] [Originator@6876 sub=Activation] [activationValidator 370] Leave Validate. Succeeded for integrity.VUMTaskManager.getVUMTaskInfo on target: Integrity.VUMTaskManager
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmware-vum-server[72658] [Originator@6876 sub=VUMTaskManagerImpl] [VUMTaskManagerImpl 139] No TaskInfo for vim.Task:task-755953
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmware-vum-server[2406165] [Originator@6876 sub=IO.Connection] Failed to connect; <io_obj p:0x00007f1c1c11c3a0, h:26, <TCP '"vCenter IP" : 45362'>, <TCP '"Host IP" : 80'>>, e: 110(Connection timed out), duration: 130589msec
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmware-vum-server[2406165] [Originator@6876 sub=HttpConnectionPool-000000] Failed to get pooled connection; <cs p:00007f1c7c4cad40, TCP:"Host FDQN" :80>, (null), duration: 130590msec, N7Vmacore15SystemExceptionE(Connection timed out)

 

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmware-vum-server[22174] [Originator@6876 sub=IO.Connection] Failed to connect; <io_obj p:0x00007f5aa0011040, h:23, <TCP '10.###.###.### : 60096'>, <TCP '10.###.###.### : 80'>>, e: 111(Connection refused), duration: 0msec
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmware-vum-server[22174] [Originator@6876 sub=HttpConnectionPool-000000] Failed to get pooled connection; <cs p:00007f5aa000d0b0, TCP:###############:80>, (null), duration: 1msec, N7Vmacore15SystemExceptionE(Connection refused: The remote service is not running, OR is overloaded, OR a firewall is rejecting connections.) --> [context]zKq7AVECAQAAAI48ewENdm13YXJlLXZ1bS1zZXJ2ZXIAAEMcU2xpYnZtYWNvcmUuc28AAAgYQgApP0MAlplKAChyOACZkjgAbaM4AAeyOAAE7DcAF0U4AMUPUQGwjgBsaWJwdGhyZWFkLnNvLjAAAt/6D2xpYmMuc28uNgA=[/context]
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] info vmware-vum-server[22174] [Originator@6876 sub=IO.Http] Set user agent error; state: 1, (null), N7Vmacore15SystemExceptionE(Connection refused: The remote service is not running, OR is overloaded, OR a firewall is rejecting connections.) --> [context]zKq7AVECAQAAAI48ewENdm13YXJlLXZtYXJlLXZ1bS1zZXJ2ZXIAAEMcU2xpYnZtYWNvcmUuc28AAAgYQgApP0MAlplKAChyOACZkjgAbaM4AAeyOAAE7DcAF0U4AMUPUQGwjgBsaWJwdGhyZWFkLnNvLjAAAt/6D2xpYmMuc28uNgA=[/context]
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] error vmware-vum-server[22174] [Originator@6876 sub=IO.Http] User agent failed to send request; (null), N7Vmacore15SystemExceptionE(Connection refused: The remote service is not running, OR is overloaded, OR a firewall is rejecting connections.) --> [context]zKq7AVECAQAAAI48ewENdm13YXJlLXZ1bS1zZXJ2ZXIAAEMcU2xpYnZtYWNvcmUuc28AAAgYQgApP0MAlplKAChyOACZkjgAbaM4AAeyOAAE7DcAF0U4AMUPUQGwjgBsaWJwdGhyZWFkLnNvLjAAAt/6D2xpYmMuc28uNgA=[/context]

 

• At the ESXi host level from /var/log/vua.log see the VUA agent is being started for the scan and later it is disabled again as no incoming request. 

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] - time the service was last started 2025-04-07T17:57:11.755Z, Section for VMware vSphere Update Manager Agent, pid=2103939, version=8.0.3, build=24322831, option=Release



Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

 

Cause

Network connectivity issues between ESXi hosts and vCenter Server. The connection to TCP 80 incoming on the host is blocked. 

 

Resolution

Resolve the communication between host and vCenter on port 80 (incoming to the ESXi host)

Additional Information

Refer following kb for testing the basic communication and DNS between ESXi host and vCenter https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/386451/