"The host returns esxupdate error code:15" error when remediating an ESXi 5.x and 6.x host
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"The host returns esxupdate error code:15" error when remediating an ESXi 5.x and 6.x host

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Article ID: 322888

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

To resolve this error when remediating the ESXi 5.x/6.x host, recreate the /locker/packages/version/ folder.

Symptoms:
  • You cannot remediate an ESXi 5.x or 6.x host using vCenter Update Manager.
  • Remediating ESXi 5.x or 6.x hosts fails.
  • This error may occur after updating VMware_locker_tools-light package.
  • You see the error:

    error code:15. The package manager transaction is not successful. Check the Update Manager log files and esxupdate log files for more details.
     
  • In the /var/log/esxupdate.log file, you see entries similar to:

    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: HostImage: DEBUG: --- Stage: LockerInstaller adding [VMware_locker_tools-light_5.0.0-1.12.653509], removing []</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time></time> esxupdate: HostImage: INFO: Attempting to download VIB tools-light
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time></time><YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: downloader: DEBUG: Downloading from http://10.2.90.21:9084/vum/repository/hostupdate/vmw/vib20/tools-light/VMware_locker_tools-light_5.0.0-1.12.653509.vib...</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time></time> esxupdate: LockerInstaller: WARNING: There was an error in cleaning up product locker: [Errno 9] Bad file descriptor: '/locker/packages/5.0.0/floppies'
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: An esxupdate error exception was caught:</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/usr/sbin/esxupdate", line 216, in main</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: cmd.Run()</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-474610/bora/build/esx/release/python-2.6-lib-zip-stage/474610/visor/pylib/python2.6/site-packages/vmware/esx5update/Cmdline.py", line 144, in Run</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-474610/bora/build/esx/release/python-2.6-lib-zip-stage/474610/visor/pylib/python2.6/site-packages/vmware/esximage/Transaction.py", line 243, in InstallVibsFromSources</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-474610/bora/build/esx/release/python-2.6-lib-zip-stage/474610/visor/pylib/python2.6/site-packages/vmware/esximage/Transaction.py", line 345, in _installVibs</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-474610/bora/build/esx/release/python-2.6-lib-zip-stage/474610/visor/pylib/python2.6/site-packages/vmware/esximage/Transaction.py", line 388, in _validateAndInstallProfile</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-474610/bora/build/esx/release/python-2.6-lib-zip-stage/474610/visor/pylib/python2.6/site-packages/vmware/esximage/HostImage.py", line 630, in Stage</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-474610/bora/build/esx/release/python-2.6-lib-zip-stage/474610/visor/pylib/python2.6/site-packages/vmware/esximage/HostImage.py", line 463, in _download_and_stage
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: InstallationError: ('VMware_locker_tools-light_5.0.0-1.12.653509', '[Errno 32] Broken pipe')
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: DEBUG: <<<</time></time></time>

    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: vmware.runcommand: INFO: runcommand called with: args = '['/sbin/esxcfg-advcfg', '-q', '-g', '/UserVars/EsximageNetTimeout']', outfile = 'None', returnoutput = 'True', timeout = '0.0'.</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: vmware.runcommand: INFO: runcommand called with: args = '['/sbin/esxcfg-advcfg', '-q', '-g', '/UserVars/EsximageNetRetries']', outfile = 'None', returnoutput = 'True', timeout = '0.0'.</time>
    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: vmware.runcommand: INFO: runcommand called with: args = '['/sbin/esxcfg-advcfg', '-q', '-g', '/UserVars/EsximageNetRateLimit']', outfile = 'None', returnoutput = 'True', timeout = '0.0'.</time>

    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: INFO: ---</time>

    or

    <YYYY-MM-DD>T<time> esxupdate: esxupdate: ERROR: DatabaseIOError: ('/locker/packages/var/db/locker', "Failed to create temporary DB dir: [Errno 28] No space left on device: '/locker/packages/var/db/locker/vibs.new'"

    </time>
    Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.
     
  • After a host reboot, the symptoms persist.


Cause

This issue occurs if the /locker/ folder contains too many files aside from the /locker/packages (or /store/packages) folder. Remediation cannot happen as the disk does not have enough space.

Resolution

To resolve this error when remediating the upgrade baseline, cleanup /locker/ folder.
  1. Use df /locker to find how much the disk has been consumed. After the failed remediation, no tools-light VIB would remain on the disk. If at this point the disk is still more than half used, a cleanup is necessary.
  2. Run du -ah /locker/* to find out what are in the locker, remove large files in the directory.
  3. One potential usage of /locker is vSAN traces, to setup trace in a datastore or other storage see "The ramdisk "vsantraces" is full" error reports in vSAN logging (2150320).
  4. After cleaning up the partition, retry the scan/remediation.
 


Additional Information

Remediating an ESXi 5.x and 6.0 host fails with the error: There was an error checking file system on altbootbank

"The pending transaction requires xxx MB free space" error when installing VIBs

For translated versions of this article, see:

• 日本語: ESXi5.1 ホスト修正がエラーが出力し失敗します。The host returns esxupdate error code:15. The package manager transaction is not successful (2058954).

Using ESXi Shell in ESXi 5.x and 6.x
ESXi 5.x および 6.x ホストの修復中に「ホストで esxupdate エラー コード 15 が返されます (The host returns esxupdate error code:15)」エラーが発生する
修复 ESXi 5.x 或 6.x 主机失败,并显示错误:“主机返回 esxupdate 错误代码: 15”