pradeep-papnai 11:16 pm on April 8, 2019  

ESXi upgrade OR update fails with error 15 “The package manager transaction is not successful”

This issue comes because of disk space OR corruption issues with /locker directory of ESXi. Review following KB to check if the matches with the issue encounter in your environment.

https://kb.vmware.com/kb/60372
https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2016147
https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2030665

It’s worth to look at esxupdate.log & VMkernel.log to get clear picture. For e.g. for my scenario following lines can be seen in logs.

/var/log/ESXupdate.log

2019-04-05T16:42:43Z esxupdate: 32649795: imageprofile: DEBUG: VIB VMware_bootbank_lsu-lsi-lsi-msgpt3-plugin_1.0.0-7vmw.650.1.26.5969303 is being removed from ImageProfile (Updated) HPE-ESXi-6.5.0-Update2-iso-Gen9plus-650.U2.10.3.5.5^@
2019-04-05T16:42:43Z esxupdate: 32649795: vmware.runcommand: INFO: runcommand called with: args = '['/bin/localcli', 'system', 'maintenanceMode', 'get']', outfile = 'None', returnoutput = 'True', timeout = '0.0'.^@
2019-04-05T16:42:43Z esxupdate: 32649795: HostInfo: INFO: localcli system returned status (0) Output: Enabled Error: ^@
2019-04-05T16:42:43Z esxupdate: 32649795: BootBankInstaller.pyc: INFO: Unrecognized value "title=Loading VMware ESXi" in boot.cfg^@
2019-04-05T16:42:44Z esxupdate: 32649795: HostImage: INFO: Installers initiated are {'live': , 'locker': , 'boot': }^@
2019-04-05T16:42:44Z esxupdate: 32649795: vmware.runcommand: INFO: runcommand called with: args = '['/usr/sbin/vsish', '-e', '-p', 'cat', '/hardware/bios/dmiInfo']', outfile = 'None', returnoutput = 'True', timeout = '0.0'.^@
2019-04-05T16:42:44Z esxupdate: 32649795: vmware.runcommand: INFO: runcommand called with: args = '['/sbin/smbiosDump']', outfile = 'None', returnoutput = 'True', timeout = '0.0'.^@
2019-04-05T16:42:45Z esxupdate: 32649795: esxupdate: INFO: All done!^@
2019-04-05T16:42:45Z esxupdate: 32649795: esxupdate: DEBUG: <<<^@

/var/log/VMKernel.log

2019-04-05T17:39:13.699Z cpu51:32693301)VisorFSRam: 707: vibdownload with (0,200,0,0,1363)
2019-04-05T17:39:13.699Z cpu51:32693301)FSS: 7963: Mounting fs visorfs (4306be5e7860) with -o 0,200,0,0,0,755,vibdownload on file descriptor 4306c5c75f80
2019-04-05T17:39:15.816Z cpu45:65853)WARNING: VisorFSRam: 353: Cannot extend visorfs file /locker/packages/6.5.0/vmtools/linux.iso because its ramdisk (root) is full.
2019-04-05T17:39:15.816Z cpu45:65853)BC: 5033: Failed to flush 52 buffers of size 8192 each for object 'linux.iso' 1 8 1564 29aeea38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0: No free memory for file data
2019-04-05T17:39:15.816Z cpu45:65853)WARNING: VisorFSRam: 353: Cannot extend visorfs file /locker/packages/6.5.0/vmtools/linux.iso because its ramdisk (root) is full.
2019-04-05T17:39:15.816Z cpu45:65853)BC: 5033: Failed to flush 2 buffers of size 8192 each for object 'linux.iso' 1 8 1564 29aeea38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0: No free memory for file data
2019-04-05T17:39:15.993Z cpu24:32693329)FSS: 8121: Unmounting file descriptor 4306c5c8da40
2019-04-05T17:39:15.993Z cpu24:32693329)VisorFSRam: 983: inode 8200559926461071360
2019-04-05T17:39:15.993Z cpu24:32693329)VisorFSRam: 1000: ramdisk vibdownload
2019-04-05T17:39:16.014Z cpu24:32693329)VisorFSRam: 1165: for ramdisk vibdownload
2019-04-05T17:39:26.844Z cpu0:32693468)VisorFSRam: 707: vibtransaction with (0,200,0,0,1363)
2019-04-05T17:39:26.844Z cpu0:32693468)FSS: 7963: Mounting fs visorfs (4306be5e7860) with -o 0,200,0,0,0,755,vibtransaction on file descriptor 4306c5cbdce0
2019-04-05T17:39:27.018Z cpu3:32693472)FSS: 8121: Unmounting file descriptor 4306c5cbdec0
2019-04-05T17:39:27.018Z cpu3:32693472)VisorFSRam: 983: inode 2892561461975195648
2019-04-05T17:39:27.018Z cpu3:32693472)VisorFSRam: 1000: ramdisk vibtransaction
2019-04-05T17:39:27.018Z cpu3:32693472)VisorFSRam: 1165: for ramdisk vibtransaction

As per the above log there is space issue with /locker, this was caused because of missing symlink. without symlink for /locker it was pointing to SDCard having less than 100 MB however the actual folder reside in locally attached disk.

Here is the ‘ls -l’ output of working & non working ESXi host.

[root@workingESXi:~] ls -lh
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           6 Apr  5 16:24 locker -> /store
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root          23 Apr  5 16:24 productLocker -> /locker/packages/6.5.0/
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root          49 Apr  5 16:23 store -> /vmfs/volumes/5c6e0e92-759cbf86-7b3b-444765b00024

[root@NonworkingESXi:~] ls -lh
drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         512 Apr  5 18:05 locker
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root          23 Jul 26  2018 productLocker -> /locker/packages/6.5.0/
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root          49 Mar  8 01:38 store -> /vmfs/volumes/5c6e0e35-33f9fb62-407d-444765b00020

If similar issue comes in your environment then simply create missing symlink.

[root@NonworkingESXi:~]ln -snf store locker

Attempt to upgrade/update ESXi again.

Please note, when symlinks for /locker is missing it may also cause VMtools tools installation on guest. You may get following when you install VMware tools using vCenter web console.

“The required VMware Tools ISO image does not exist or is inaccessible”