VMware Tools upgrade Failure via Lifecycle Manager Due to VIB Download Error - HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Unable to upgrade VMware Tools using vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) baseline.
  
  
• In Updates Tab of ESXi host, when you try to stage the baseline, we get below error in UI,

"Cannot download VIB: ''. This might be because of network issues or the specified VIB does NOT exist or does NOT have a proper 'read' privilege set. Please make sure the specified VIB exists and is accessible from vCenter Server."

• VUM logs has below errors - /var/log/vmware/vmware-updatemgr/VUM-server/vum-server.log, 

YYYY-MM-DDT06:12:23.286Z verbose vmware-vum-server[24646] [Originator@6876 sub=httpDownload] [httpDownloadPosix 188] < HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
YYYY-MM-DDT06:12:23.286Z warning vmware-vum-server[24646] [Originator@6876 sub=httpDownload] [httpDownloadPosix 899] Download https://dl.broadcom.com/<Download_Token>/PROD/COMP/ESX_HOST/vmtools-main/vmtools/vmw/vib20/tools-light/VMware_locker_tools-light_13.0.5-0.24916190.vib failed, retry in 15 seconds.
YYYY-MM-DDT06:12:39.864Z error vmware-vum-server[24644] [Originator@6876 sub=HostUpdateDepotManager] [vibDownloaderImpl 435] Downloading file: https://dl.broadcom.com/<Download_Token>/PROD/COMP/ESX_HOST/vmtools-main/vmtools/vmw/vib20/tools-light/VMware_locker_tools-light_13.0.5-0.24916190.vib failed, 0 byte downloaded.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

The failure is due to an inaccessible VIB file, likely caused by an expired or invalid Broadcom download token. 

When you run wget command against the URL that too fails with 403: Forbidden Error.

root@vcsa [ ~ ]# wget https://dl.broadcom. com/<download_Token>/PROD/COMP/ESX_HOST/vmtools-main/vmtools/vmw/vib20/tools-light/VMware_locker_tools-light 13.0.5-0.24916190. vib
-- YYYY-MM-DD 02:38:13 -- https://dl.broadcom.com/<Download_Token>/PROD/COMP/ESX_HOST/vmtools-main/vmtools/vmw/vib20/tools-light/VMware_locker_tools-light_13.0.5-0.24916190. vib
Resolving <proxy_server> ... <Proxy_IP Address>
Connecting to <proxy_server>| <Proxy_IP Address>|:80 ... connected.
Proxy request sent, awaiting response ... 403 Forbidden
YYYY-MM-DD 02:38:20 ERROR 403: Forbidden.

Resolution

In order to resolve the issue;

1. Generate a new download token from the Broadcom portal. Refer to KB 390098.

2. Update the token in both:

   • vLCM patch settings

   • vCenter VAMI (Virtual Appliance Management Interface) page

3. Retry the VMware Tools upgrade from vLCM with the new token update.