"Failed to export personality files from vCenter" when importing ESXi image in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0/9.1 due to missing VIBs or VVS bundle (HTTP 404)

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to perform an Extract Cluster Image or Import Image task (PERSONALITY_UPLOAD) in SDDC Manager UI (Lifecycle Management > Image Management), the task fails with:

ERROR Message: Failed to export personality files from vCenter

/var/log/vmware/vmware-updatemgr/vum-server/vmware-vum-server.log :

ERROR vmware-vum-server [Originator@6876 sub=com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.ExportTask] [Task, 424] Task:com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.ExportTask. Task Failed. Error:
--> com.vmware.vcIntegrity.lifecycle.depots.VibDownloadErrorInfo<Failed to download VIB(s): URL: https://<SDDC_FQDN>/vmware/vcf/umds/patch-store/hostupdate/vmw/vib20/esx-base/<vib_name>.vib Error: HTTP Error Code: 404>

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation

Cause

During image import/export, vCenter Server connects to the local SDDC Manager UMDS patch store (/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/umds/patch-store/) to retrieve required ESXi VIBs and compatibility bundles.

This failure occurs when:

Restrictive proxy server settings or network firewalls block outbound access to Broadcom depots (dl.broadcom.com, vvs.broadcom.com), causing the local UMDS store to be missing required VIBs or vvs-consolidated-bundle.zip.
Direct UMDS sync fails or times out through an HTTP/HTTPS proxy that performs SSL/TLS inspection or requires specific client headers.

Resolution

Import the Missing ESXi Offline Depot Bundle into SDDC Manager

If SDDC Manager cannot reach the Broadcom online depot directly or via proxy:

• Download the ESXi Offline Depot Bundle:

Log in to support.broadcom.com > My Downloads > VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 / 9.1.
Download the ESXi Depot .zip file corresponding to your target version (e.g., VMware-ESXi-9.0.2.0100-25595025-depot.zip).

• Transfer the Zip File to SDDC Manager:

Use WinSCP and transfer the bundle to SDDC Manager as VCF user. 

• Import the Offline Bundle using UMDS:

SSH to SDDC Manager as vcf, switch to root, navigate to the UMDS binary directory, and run the import command:

ssh vcf@<SDDC_MANAGER_IP>

su -

cd /opt/vmware/vmware-umds/bin/

./vmware-umds -I --offline-bundle /var/tmp/VMware-ESXi-9.0.2.0100-25595025-depot.zip

(Note: Verify the .zip file is complete and uncorrupted prior to running the command).

• Update File Permissions:

chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/umds/patch-store/hostupdate/
chmod -R 755 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/umds/patch-store/hostupdate/

Once done, retry image import.