VCF Download Tool Fails with 403 Forbidden Error During Binary or Metadata Download.

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer
• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• When using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Download Tool to download installation binaries and metadata to an offline depot, the process fails.
  
  
• Review of the vdt.logs reveals the following error sequence.
  
  

  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:15.976-0400 [main] DEBUG [com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.bundle.download.depot.DepotDownloader]  Got response: 403 Forbidden HTTP/1.1
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:15.976-0400 [main] ERROR [com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.bundle.download.depot.DepotDownloader]  Error getting file size, got response: 403 Forbidden HTTP/1.1
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:15.982-0400 [main] ERROR [com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.bundle.download.depot.DepotDownloader]  Got Http error[403] while downloading file [/metadata/productVersionCatalog/v1/productVersionCatalog.json] from dl.broadcom.com:443 with user dummy_download_oauth_token_user
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:16.014-0400 [main] DEBUG [com.vmware.evo.sddc.common.core.i18n.LocalizationTools]  VCF_USE_RESOURCE_BUNDLE_LOCALIZATION='null' -> using VIP-based localization
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:16.041-0400 [main] DEBUG [com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.tools.bundletransferv2.telemetry.TelemetryFileUtil]  Is CEIP enabled: false
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:16.042-0400 [main] ERROR [com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.tools.bundletransferv2.exceptionhandler.ExecutionExceptionHandler]  Application failed.
  com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.tools.bundletransfer.exception.BundleTransferUtilityException: Cant access Broadcom depot with provided Customer activation code {0}
          at com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.tools.bundletransferv2.shared.utils.DownloadUtil.validateDepotUser(DownloadUtil.java:525)
          at com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.tools.bundletransferv2.tasks.base.ValidateDepotCredentialsTaskBase.execute(ValidateDepotCredentialsTaskBase.java:36)
          at com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.tools.bundletransferv2.tasks.base.ValidateDepotCredentialsTaskBase.execute(ValidateDepotCredentialsTaskBase.java:24) 
          at org.springframework.boot.loader.JarLauncher.main(JarLauncher.java:65)
  Caused by: com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.model.depot.exception.DepotInvalidCredentialException: Invalid username or password
          at com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.bundle.download.depot.DepotDownloader.validateUser(DepotDownloader.java:740)
                  ... 20 common frames omitted
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:16.225-0400 [main] ERROR [com.vmware.vipclient.i18n.base.instances.TranslationMessage]  Can't find resource for bundle java.util.PropertyResourceBundle, key DOWNLOAD_ACTIVATION_CODE_INVALID.remedy
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:16.246-0400 [main] WARN  [com.vmware.evo.sddc.lcm.tools.bundletransferv2.exceptionhandler.ExecutionExceptionHandler]  Remediation message (locale en_US) was not found for DOWNLOAD_ACTIVATION_CODE_INVALID

Environment

• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1

Cause

• The failure is caused by an incorrect Service ID. Specifically, an extra character or typo in the Service ID leads to a mismatch during the authorization check at the Broadcom depot. Because the Service ID does not match the environment's entitlements, the depot returns a 403 Forbidden response despite a token being successfully generated.

Resolution

1. To resolve this issue, verify and correct the Service ID used by the VCF Download Tool:
   i. Log into vcf.broadcom.com
   ii. Go to Software Deport Registration.
   iii. Verify the Service ID.