vCenter Server 7.0 U3 Installation failed: Test RPM Transaction Failed. Collect Logs for Diagnostics

When updating my vCenter Server 7.0 to Update 3, the installation of the update package failed in my homelab environment with the error message: Installation failed: Test RPM Transaction Failed. Collect Logs for Diagnostics. By examining the logfiles, I discovered the /storage/log filesystem was full. This short blogpost walks through the troubleshooting steps I took and how I cleared up some space on /storage/log by following VMware KB83070.
Switching to the command line interface
I switched to the command line interface by SSH-ing into my vCenter Server to see if I could get some more information about the error message. I re-tried the update procedure:
Command> software-packages stage --url –acceptEulas Command> software-packages validate Command> software-packages list –staged Command> software-packages install –staged
I got the same error message (Installation failed: Test RPM Transaction Failed. Collect Logs for Diagnostics), so I opened the diagnostics logfile for some further analysis:
Command> shell root@vcenter [ / ]# cd /vmware/applmgmt root@vcenter [ /var/log/vmware/applmgmt ]# cat software-packages.log [...] 2021-10-07T11:55:12.280 [44638]DEBUG:vmware.vherd.base.software_update:STDOUT: Preparing... ######################################## 2021-10-07T11:55:12.280 [44638]DEBUG:vmware.vherd.base.software_update:STDERR: installing package VMware-vpxd-7.0.3.00000-9260569.x86_64 needs 4KB on the /storage/log filesystem 2021-10-07T11:55:12.280 [44638]DEBUG:vmware.vherd.base.software_update:Test transaction failed to update package out=Preparing... ######################################## error= installing package VMware-vpxd-7.0.3.00000-9260569.x86_64 needs 4KB on the /storage/log filesystem rc=254 [...]
/storage/log out of disk space
As you can see in the logfile, the /storage/log filesystem is out of disk space. Thankfully, https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/83070 explains in detail how to free up some space on this filesystem. To summarize the KB article: you need to scan the following subfolders for old log files and delete them:
/storage/log/vmware/sso/tomcat /storage/log/vmware/eam/web /storage/log/vmware/lookupsvc/tomcat /var/log/vmware/vmware-sps
The command line input is:
root@vcenter [ /var/log/vmware/applmgmt ]# cd /storage/log/vmware/sso/tomcat/ root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/sso/tomcat ]# ls -lha catalina*log root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/sso/tomcat ]# rm catalina*log root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/sso/tomcat ]# ls -lha localhost_access* root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/sso/tomcat ]# rm localhost_access* root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/sso/tomcat ]# cd /storage/log/vmware/eam/web/ root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/eam/web ]# ls -lha catalina*log root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/eam/web ]# rm catalina*log root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/sso/web ]# ls -lha localhost_access* root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/eam/web ]# rm localhost_access* root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/eam/web ]# cd /storage/log/vmware/lookupsvc/tomcat/ root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/lookupsvc/tomcat ]# ls -lha catalina*log root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/lookupsvc/tomcat ]# rm catalina*log root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/lookupsvc/tomcat ]# ls -lha localhost_access* root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/lookupsvc/tomcat ]# rm localhost_access* root@vcenter [ /storage/log/vmware/lookupsvc/tomcat ]# cd /var/log/vmware/vmware-sps root@vcenter [ /var/log/vmware/vmware-sps ]# ls -lha sps-access*log root@vcenter [ /var/log/vmware/vmware-sps ]# rm sps-access*log
And that’s it. Exit the BASH shell to switch back to the vCenter Appliance shell and retry the update:
Command> software-packages install --staged