"An error occurred while connecting to depot" when trying to update the ESXi host using cluster image.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Running a compliance check or remediation on a cluster using an image-based configuration fails.
• ESXi host /var/run/log/lifecycle.log shows below log lines:
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS Er(11) lifecycle[25002320]: imagemanagerctl:90 vmware.esximage.Errors.DepotConnectError: ([MetadataDownloadError('http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-vmw__metadata-227__index__.xml', '', "Could not download from depot at http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-vmw__metadata-227__index__.xml, skipping (('http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-vmw__metadata-227__index__.xml', '', '<urlopen error [Errno -3] Temporary failure in name resolution>'))"), MetadataDownloadError('http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-vmw__metadata-149__index__.xml', '', "Could not download from depot at http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-vmw__metadata-149__index__.xml, skipping (('http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-vmw__metadata-149__index__.xml', '', '<urlopen error [Errno -3] Temporary failure in name resolution>'))"), MetadataDownloadError('http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-DEL__metadata-211__index__.xml', '', "Could not download from depot at http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-DEL__metadata-211__index__.xml, skipping (('http://<vCenter Server FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/__micro-depot__vendor-DEL__metadata-211__index__.xml', '', '<urlopen error [Errno -3] Temporary failure in name resolution>'))")
• During VCF cluster creation the task can fail at : Remediate ESXi Host(s) to be Compliant with Cluster's Image - Failed
• On the vShere Client UI you see:
  • Failed to connect to depot: 'URL: 'http://<VC_FQDN>:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/....' Error: <urlopen error [Errno -3] Temporary failure in name resolution>"

Environment

• VMware ESXi 8.x/9.x
• VMware vCenter Server using vLCM with cluster images
• VCF 5.x/9.x

Cause

"Temporary failure in name resolution" means the ESXi host is unable to resolve the vCenter Server referenced in the error.

Resolution

Ensure the ESXi host is able to resolve the DNS name of the vCenter Server to an IP address.

nslookup <VC_FQDN/IP>

You can configure DNS using multiple methods as described in Configuring DNS settings.

To edit the ESXi host's local hosts file rather than use DNS, Configure the DNS Hosts File by Using ESXCLI Commands.

Additional Information

KB398817references the same symptom with a similar error.