Error scanning Dell hosts with VUM "Host cannot download files"

This is one possible solution for the error "Host cannot download files from VMware vSphere Update Manager patch store. Check the network connectivity and firewall setup, and check esxupdate logs for details"


If you're running Dell hosts and Openmanage, there is an issue with the Openmanage VIB 8.2.0 - 8.5.0 (possibly other versions but these are the ones I've tested).

Unzip the file and have a look at the index.xml file



In my case the line containing the tag had a typo - you'd have thought Dell could spell their name, especially when it's only 4 characters long. 

Edit this to be Dell and re-zip the files (making sure the files are in the root of the zipfile)

 
 

The bad news is that you can't manually remove VIBs from the VUM database once they've been imported, so you basically have to nuke your VUM config so first make a note of all your baselines / baseline groups.

At least you no longer have to uninstall and reinstall the database - there is a tool called VMwareUpdateManagerUtility.exe in the Update Manager application folder which will reset the database.  Run it, point it at your VUM server, login and choose the Database settings -> re-initialize database option:





You should now be able to re-import the new VIB zipfile and perform a scan.

Unfortunately if you have alot of baselines or baseline groups, you'll need to recreate them.