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If you are going to using vSphere Replication you will notice, after the deployment of the two virtual appliances a continuous (also each minute) logging of installation activities on all the ESXi hosts in the protected cluster.

This is quite annoying but also is going to fill up your log both in the ESXi hosts and in the vCenter database (are all tasks visible in the the vCenter console).

You will find the reason in the /var/log/esxupdate.log with rows like this:


2017-10-24T20:13:43Z esxupdate: 178662: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-6765664/bora/build/esx/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/vmware/esx5update/Cmdline.py", line 148, in Run
2017-10-24T20:13:43Z esxupdate: 178662: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-6765664/bora/build/esx/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/vmware/esximage/Transaction.py", line 239, in InstallVibsFromSources
2017-10-24T20:13:43Z esxupdate: 178662: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-6765664/bora/build/esx/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/vmware/esximage/Transaction.py", line 169, in GetVibsFromSources
2017-10-24T20:13:43Z esxupdate: 178662: esxupdate: ERROR: File "/build/mts/release/bora-6765664/bora/build/esx/release/vmvisor/sys-boot/lib64/python3.5/site-packages/vmware/esximage/Transaction.py", line 290, in _getVibsFromUrls
2017-10-24T20:13:43Z esxupdate: 178662: esxupdate: ERROR: vmware.esximage.Errors.VibDownloadError: ('https://172.18.0.107:8043/vib/vr2c-firewall.vib', None, '(\'https://172.18.0.107:8043/vib/vr2c-firewall.vib\', \'/tmp/vibtransaction/tmp.vib\', \'[Errno 14] curl#56 - "Content-Length: in 200 response"\')')
2017-10-24T20:13:43Z esxupdate: 178662: esxupdate: DEBUG: <<<

The VMware KB 2110304 (ESXi hosts report vib errors after installing VMware vSphere Replication 5.6.x or later) describe the reason of this problem and the possible solution.

Also explain that the repeated VIB install messages reappear after every action performed in the vCenter Server or each time a host reconnects to the vCenter Server. Not totally true, considering that in my case (vSphere 6.5 update 1 and vSphere Replication 6.5) was almost every 1 minutes, also without any activities… maybe because the was vSAN 6.6 and also its activities counts?

Anyway, one of the suggested solution was manually install the vr2c-firewall.vib package, but in my case wasn’t enough, also after hosts reboot or vSphere replication appliances reboot.

The only working solution was manually disable the Automatic installation of the firewall VIB (not necessary if you are using replication across clusters).

Note: This step is valid for VMware vSphere Replication 5.8.1 or later versions.

To disable the automatic installation of the firewall vib:

  1. ssh into the vSphere Replication appliance and run command:
    /opt/vmware/hms/bin/hms-configtool -cmd reconfig -property hms-auto-install-vr2c-vib=false
    Note: Also, you can manually edit hms-auto-install-vr2c-vib value at /opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms-configuration.xml
  2. Restart VRMS:service hms restart

The issue could be ssh to the VR appliance: in the latest version sshd is not running and also if you enable it, root is not enable to login (also if you change the the sshd_config file to enable it).

If you are lazy and you don’t wont to manually digit the entire command from the console, you can use the ssh client from the VR appliance to get the right string from another sshd server.

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Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.