UMDS Synchronization Fails in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
search cancel

UMDS Synchronization Fails in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1

book

Article ID: 446121

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

In a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 environment, the "Downloading Esx metadata, vibs and vendor add-ons" task fails during binary synchronization.


The following symptoms are observed:

  • In the SDDC Manager UI, the UMDS_SYNC task status shows FAILED.
  • The error message displayed is: Failed to execute UMDS command: /opt/vmware/vmware-umds/bin/vmware-umds -D -m --info-level error --task-id <UUID>.
  • In /var/log/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-debug.log, you see one of the following entries:
what(): Failed to parse file /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/umds/patch-store/hostupdate/vmw/__hostupdate20-consolidated-metadata-index__.xml: no element found

curl_easy_perform() failed: SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate

Environment

VCF 9.1

Cause

This issue occurs due to one of the following reasons:

  1. Metadata Corruption: The __hostupdate20-consolidated-metadata-index__.xml file in the SDDC Manager patch store is empty (0 bytes) or corrupted, preventing the Update Manager Download Service (UMDS) from parsing the manifest.
  2. Certificate Trust Gap: In VCF 9.1, the native vmware-umds utility relies on the Photon OS trust store (/etc/ssl/certs/) rather than the Java truststore. If an offline depot or proxy uses an internal/self-signed certificate that is not present in the OS trust store, the SSL handshake fails.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must clear the corrupted metadata and ensure the SDDC Manager operating system trusts the download endpoint.

Step 1: Clear Corrupted Metadata

  1. Log in to the SDDC Manager appliance as the root user via SSH.
  2. Navigate to the hostupdate metadata directory: bash cd /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/umds/patch-store/hostupdate/vmw/
  3. Check the file size of the consolidated index: bash ls -lh __hostupdate20-consolidated-metadata-index__.xml
  4. If the file is 0 bytes or you suspect corruption, rename it to force a rebuild: bash mv __hostupdate20-consolidated-metadata-index__.xml __hostupdate20-consolidated-metadata-index__.xml_old

Step 2: Remediate SSL Trust (If using HTTPS Depot/Proxy)

If your environment uses a proxy or an internal HTTPS depot, perform these steps to update the OS trust store:

  1. Upload the Root CA certificate (in .pem format) from your depot or proxy to the /tmp directory on the SDDC Manager.
  2. Copy the certificate to the trusted certificates directory: bash cp /tmp/YourRootCA.pem /etc/ssl/certs/
  3. Update the certificate hashes: bash /usr/bin/rehash_ca_certificates.sh

Step 3: Trigger Manual Synchronization

  1. Log in to the SDDC Manager UI.
  2. Navigate to Lifecycle Management > Binary Management.
  3. Locate the ESXi Components card and click Synchronize Now.
  4. Monitor the task in the Activity panel to ensure it completes successfully.

Additional Information

KB 429583: Task 'Downloading Esx metadata' Failed due to empty XML
KB 433275: UMDS command failure remediation for SSL issues

Powered by Wolken Software