Unable to patch vCenter "Error copying packages" message

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to patch vCenter within a major release, the staging of the software is interrupted and the message "Error copying packages" appears in a red alert bar.

Further investigation into the the vCenter log /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/update_microservice.log shows the following message:

YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS,SSS - 1831823 - update_functions_target::      runCommandAndCheckResult: 428 -    DEBUG - runCommandAndCheckResult failed: '--YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS--  https://dl.broadcom.com/############################/PROD/COMP/VCENTER/vmw/hhhhhhhh-hhhh-hhhh-hhhh-hhhhhhhhhhhh/8.0.3.00600/package-pool/hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.blob\nResolving dl.broadcom.com... ###.###.###.###, ###.###.###.###, 2606:4700:7::a5, ...\nConnecting to dl.broadcom.com|###.###.###.###|:443... connected.\nHTTP request sent, awaiting response... \n  HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden\n  Date: Day, DD Mon YYYY HH:MM:SS GMT\n  Content-Type: text/plain;charset=UTF-8\n  Content-Length: 12\n  Connection: keep-alive\n  CF-RAY: hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-IAD\n  Vary: Accept-Encoding\n  Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains\n  Server: cloudflare\nYYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR 403: Forbidden.\n\n'

Repeated attempts fail the same way

Cause

Invalid or incorrectly formatted download token. In this case the token is invalid as due to an issue between the self-generation of the token and the product entitlement. There is a very similar case covered under "Error when updating vCenter in vLCM "Error copying packages""

Resolution

To open a case with GCA, see "Create a Non Technical case for Support Portal / License / Contract related issues".

See "VCF Authenticated Downloads Token Troubleshooting Guide" for more information.

Additional Information

A similar error can happen when updating ESXi, see ""Cannot download VIB" error while staging the ESXi patch using lifecycle manager with Token based URL - Token Not Entitled" for more information