NVE appliance upgrade rejects package with "Failed to Retrieve Package Metadata"

Summary: The NetWorker Installation Manager repository tab shows that the package was rejected as it failed to retrieve the package metadata.

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Symptoms

The NetWorker solution is configured with the NetWorker Virtual Edition (NVE) Appliance. The NVE Appliance is being upgraded using the NetWorker Installation Manager with the NveUpgrade-##.#.#-###.avp package. The NetWorker Installation Manager repository tab shows that the package was rejected as it failed to retrieve the package metadata.
 
Reject error screen

The /usr/local/avamar/var/avi/server_log/avinstaller.log.0 shows:
  
...
INFO: extract package metadata: NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.repo.PackageHandler createTempLocation
INFO: creating temp folder for package: NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp at: /data01/avamar/repo/temp/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp_1619715642204
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.repo.PackageHandler callUntarCommand
INFO: Extracting original file from package: /data01/avamar/repo/packages/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.db.DBPkgRepoMonitor updatePkgRepoMonitorState
INFO: Package: NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp has been updated (state) in the pkgrepomonitor table
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.security.GPGSign callGPGCommand
SEVERE: Command: gpg --output /data01/avamar/repo/temp/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp_1619715642204/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp /data01/avamar/repo/packages/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp returned: gpg: error creating `/data01/avamar/repo/temp/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp_1619715642204/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp': No such file or directory
gpg: handle plaintext failed: No such file or directory
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.security.GPGSign callGPGCommand
INFO: Command: gpg --output /data01/avamar/repo/temp/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp_1619715642204/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp /data01/avamar/repo/packages/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp failed with exit code 2
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.security.GPGSign callGPGCommand
INFO: GPG command took: 6475 ms
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.repo.PackageHandler extractPkgMetaData
WARNING: Extraction of pkgdef.xml failed for package: NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.repo.PackageHandler deleteTempLocation
INFO: Deleting temp folder: /data01/avamar/repo/temp/NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp_1619715642204 for temp location: NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp_1619715642204
...
Month Day, Year HH:MM:SS com.avamar.avinstaller.repo.PackageManager handleUnknownPackage
WARNING: PACKAGE REJECTED. REASON: Can not get pkgdef.xml from package: NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp
...

Cause

The NVE upgrade uses the GnuPrivacy Guard (GPG) utility to securely encrypt the metadata files during the workflow. The GPG output shows it is unable to write a temporary output file to the file system as the /data01/avamar/repo/temp/ directory was deleted on the NVE.

Resolution

Re-create the /data01/avamar/repo/temp/ directory with the admin user and ensure it is assigned with the proper permissions (drwxr-xr-x). Once the directory is re-created, upload the NveUpgrade-##.#.#-##.avp package to the /data01/avamar/repo/packages directory and validate the NetWorker Installation Manager accepts the package.
 

admin@MY_NVE:~/>: ls -l /data01/avamar/repo
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 admin admin 4096 Oct 25  2018 downloads
drwxr-xr-x 2 admin admin 4096 May 24 13:24 help
drwxr-xr-x 2 admin admin 4096 May 27 12:37 packages
admin@MY_NVE:~/>: mkdir /data01/avamar/repo/temp
admin@MY_NVE:~/>: chmod 755 /data01/avamar/repo/temp
admin@MY_NVE:~/>: ls -l /data01/avamar/repo
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 admin admin 4096 Oct 25  2018 downloads
drwxr-xr-x 2 admin admin 4096 May 24 13:24 help
drwxr-xr-x 2 admin admin 4096 May 27 12:37 packages
drwxr-xr-x 2 admin admin 4096 May 28 13:57 temp
admin@MY_NVE:~/>:
Article Properties
Article Number: 000187628
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 18 Nov 2025
Version:  4
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