vCenter fatching fails with error "Installation of one or more RPMs failed".

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to update vCenter Server 8.x, the process fails at the "Installing RPMs" stage. The VAMI displays the error: "Installation of one or more RPMs failed."

 

• The log file /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/update_microservice.log contains entries similar to:

YYYY-MM-DD - functions_target:: createPhotonRepo: ### - INFO - appliance-photon repo created successfully
YYYY-MM-DD  functions_target:: runCommand: ## - DEBUG - Invoking command [/bin/bash --login -c /usr/bin/photon-upgrade.sh --assume-yes --repos=appliance-photon --install-all]
YYYY-MM-DD  functions_target:: runCommand: ## - DEBUG - Process completed. Return code [11], stdout [YYYY-MM-DDT##:##:##+#### Recording list of all installed RPMs on this machine to /tmp/photon-upgrade-###/rpm-qa.txt.
YYYY-MM-DDTCreating backup of RPM DB.
YYYY-MM-DDTGenerating tdnf cache on Photon OS 4.0
Refreshing metadata for: 'vCenter Server Appliance Photon RPMs'
Metadata cache created.
YYYY-MM-DDT Rebuilding RPMDB.
YYYY-MM-DDT successfully rebuilt RPMDB.
YYYY-MM-DDT Upgrading all installed Photon OS 4.0 packages to latest available versions.
Refreshing metadata for: 'vCenter Server Appliance Photon RPMs'
], stderr [1. package open-vm-tools-sdmp-##.#.#-#.ph4.x86_64 requires open-vm-tools = 12.3.5-1.ph4, but none of the providers can be installed
Found 1 problem(s) while resolving
Error(1301) : Solv general runtime error
YYYY-MM-DDT##:##:##+#### Error in upgrading all packages to latest versions (tdnf error code: 21).
Original list of RPMs and RPM DB are stored in /tmp/photon-upgrade-###, please provide contents of that folder along with system journal logs for analysis; these logs can be captured using command-
 # /usr/bin/journalctl -xa > /tmp/photon-upgrade-###/journal.log
 Cannot continue. Aborting.
]
YYYY-MM-DD  dbfunctions_target:: executeDML: ## -DEBUG - Executing Query {UPDATE install_progress SET Subphase = ?, end_time = DATETIME('now'), status = ?WHERE Phase = ? } with parameters ('Install Photon RPM transaction failed.', 'failed', 'Installing RPMs')
YYYY-MM-DD - update_b2b_target:: executeInstallRpms:#### -ERROR - RPM installation failed.
YYYY-MM-DD -update_b2b_target::installRpms:#### -ERROR - Installation of one or more RPMs failed.
..
YYYY-MM-DD -dbfunctions_target::executeDML: ## - DEBUG - Executing Query {INSERT INTO progress VALUES(NULL, ?,DATETIME('now'), ?, ?, ?)} with parameters ('failed', 'Installation of one or more RPMs failed.. Installation failed', 100, 95)
YYYY-MM-DD  update_b2b_target::install:#### -ERROR - Installation of RPMs phase failed.

We see the following RPM from the installed list - 

$ rpm -qa | grep -i vm-tools-sdmp
open-vm-tools-sdmp-12.3.5-1-ph4.x86

Environment

vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

The failure occurs because the open-vm-tools-sdmp package installed on the appliance has a version dependency that cannot be satisfied during the Photon OS upgrade transaction. This creates a conflict in the rpm package manager, preventing the installation of updated RPMs.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the conflicting open-vm-tools-sdmp package must be removed before proceeding with the update.

1. Create a fresh snapshot of the vCenter Server Appliance.
2. Log in to the vCenter Server Appliance via SSH as the root user.
3. Identify the exact version of the open-vm-tools-sdmp package: rpm -qa | grep -i vm-tools-sdmp
4. Remove the package using the following command: rpm -ev --nodeps open-vm-tools-sdmp-<VERSION> (Example: rpm -ev --nodeps open-vm-tools-sdmp-12.3.5-1.ph4.x86_64)
5. Retry the vCenter Server update from the VAMI or the appliance shell.

Additional Information

Note : This can also happen if we have different versions on  open-vm-tools-sdmp
e.g open-vm-tools-sdmp-13.0.0-1.ph4.x86_64
Command used : rpm -ev --nodeps open-vm-tools-sdmp-13.0.0-1.ph4.x86_64