"Scan Entity" task is extremely slow on ESXi 8x due to inaccessible repository URLs

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• The "Scan Entity" task takes an excessive amount of time to complete (approximately 50 minutes or more).
• It is observed that repeated failures to download VIBs are followed by retry attempts. The following log is found in vCenter /var/log/vmware/vmware-updatemgr/vum-server/vmware-vum-server.log:

  <timestamp> verbose vmware-vum-server[12156] [Originator@6876 sub=httpDownload] [httpDownloadPosix 1148] The url https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/esx/vmw/vib20/esx-update/VMware_bootbank_esx-update_7.0.0-1.0.15843807.vib is inaccessible.
  ...
  <timestamp> verbose vmware-vum-server[12156] [Originator@6876 sub=httpDownload] [httpDownloadPosix 1148] The url https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/esx/vmw/vib20/esx-update/VMware_bootbank_esx-update_7.0.1-0.30.17551050.vib is inaccessible.

Cause

The issue occurs because the vci-integrity.xml file is configured with legacy public repository URLs like https://hostupdate.vmware.com. These common URLs have been replaced by unique, token-based URLs for each customer. The system attempts to connect to the old addresses, fails, and retries multiple times, causing significant delays.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must update the repository configuration to use the new unique token-based URLs:

1. Access the Broadcom Support Portal to generate your unique repository credentials and URLs.
2. Follow the detailed steps in KB390121 to replace the outdated URLs in your environment.
3. Restart the VMware Update Manager service to apply the changes.
   service-control --restart vmware-updatemgr


4. Retry the "Scan Entity" task to verify performance.