PowerPath: Upgrade of PPMA fails

When upgrading from PPMA 2.0.1.0.206 to 2.1.1.0.74 or higher, the upgrade fails with:

# unzip PowerPath_Management_Appliance_2.1_SP1_Upgrade_only.zip Archive: PowerPath_Management_Appliance_2.1_SP1_Upgrade_only.zip creating: PowerPath_Management_Appliance_2.1_SP1_Upgrade_only/ inflating: PowerPath_Management_Appliance_2.1_SP1_Upgrade_only/300-999-666_05.pdf inflating: PowerPath_Management_Appliance_2.1_SP1_Upgrade_only/302-000-476_08.pdf inflating: PowerPath_Management_Appliance_2.1_SP1_Upgrade_only/EMCPower.PPMA-2.1.1.00.00-74_Upgrade_ReadMe.txt extracting: PowerPath_Management_Appliance_2.1_SP1_Upgrade_only/EMCPower.PPMA-update-2.1.1.00.00-74.zip # /bin/bash update/applianceUpdate 14:29:55 [INFO]: * Starting the appliance update process * 14:29:55 [INFO]: Updating PowerPath: 2.0.1.0.206 -> 2.1.1.0.74 14:29:55 [INFO]: Logs can be found here: 14:29:55 [INFO]: /opt/ADG/update/logs/update-2.0.1.0.206-2.1.1.0.74-2017_02_13-14_29_55.log 14:29:55 [INFO]: * Validating update * 14:29:55 [INFO]: Checking installed product version ... 14:29:55 [INFO]: Product version check is successful. 14:29:55 [INFO]: Adding update repo ... 14:29:56 [INFO]: Update repo added successfully. 14:29:56 [INFO]: Checking OS version ... 14:29:56 [INFO]: Updating OS release ... 14:29:56 [INFO]: Zypper issue while installing sles-release package. 14:29:56 [ERROR]: Zypper command malfunction. Aborting update procedure ...

(note, for a higher release, the messages are identical ... with for example 2.2.0.0.97 instead of 2.1.1.0.74 in the above example)

The issue is caused due to the OS changing in the latest PPMA version,
Older PPMA versions use SLES version = 11.3-1.138.
The latest PPMA version uses SLES version = 12.1-1.331

When OS version changes  there is no other way to avoid this error other  than export the config from old OS ( Vapp ), re-deploy new version and import config info.

Case 1 : upgrade to EMC PPMA 2.1.1 
1.SSH into the EMC PPMA 2.0.1 VM and then run the script to export the EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.0.1 configuration.
chmod +x export_vApp1.x_Config
2. ./export_vApp1.2.x_Config
3. Copy the resulting export_vApp1.2.x_Config.zip file to the local desktop or a remote location.
Then go to step 4

Case 2 : upgrade to EMC PPMA 2.2.x and above
1.SSH into the EMC PPMA 2.0.1 VM and then run the script to export the EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.0.1 configuration.
copy the export_ppma_config script from the full PPMA 2.2.x package (it is not included in the upgrade package)
chmod +x export_ppma_config
2. ./export_ppma_config
3. Copy the resulting Powerpath_Management_Appliance.zip file to the local desktop or a remote location.

4. Take note of the EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance deployment parameter details.
5. Power down the EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.0.1 VM.
Do not delete the EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.0.1 VM until after successful EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.1.1 (or higher) import.
6. Deploy EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.1.1 (or higher) with the same EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance Deployment Parameters as EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.0.1
7. Power up the new EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance VM.
8. In the upgraded PowerPath Virtual Appliance web console, navigate to System > Settings >
Import Config ZIP and then import the vApp1.2.x_Config.zip [resp. Powerpath_Management_Appliance.zip with 2.2 and above]  file.
After you finish:
After a successful import, EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance 2.01 can be deleted.
Reboot is not required after upgrades using the upgrade script.

Details from the log:
/opt/ADG/update/logs/update-2.0.1.0.206-2.1.1.0.74-X_X_X-X_X_X.log

[INFO]: * Starting the appliance update process *
14:29:55 [INFO]: Updating PowerPath: 2.0.1.0.206 -> 2.1.1.0.74
14:29:55 [INFO]: Logs can be found here:
14:29:55 [INFO]: /opt/ADG/update/logs/update-2.0.1.0.206-2.1.1.0.74-2017_02_13-14_29_55.log
14:29:55 [INFO]: * Validating update *
14:29:55 [INFO]: Checking installed product version ...
14:29:55 [INFO]: Product version check is successful.
14:29:55 [INFO]: Adding update repo ...
Verbosity: 2
Non-option program arguments: '/tmp/update/repo' 'tmp-update-repo'
Initializing Target
Adding repository 'tmp-update-repo' [......done]
Repository 'tmp-update-repo' successfully added
Enabled: Yes
Autorefresh: No
GPG check: Yes
URI: dir:///tmp/update/repo

Verbosity: 2
Entering 14'no-gpg-checks' mode.
Non-option program arguments: 'tmp-update-repo'
Initializing Target
Specified repositories: tmp-update-repo
Checking whether to refresh metadata for tmp-update-repo
Retrieving repository 'tmp-update-repo' metadata [.

Automatically trusting the following key:
Key ID: 60167xxxxxxxxxxxx
Key Name: Appliance Development Group (The keys for signing ADG update media for product appliances) <Ionix_Appliance_Development_Group@emc.com>
Key Fingerprint: 2E41063BE7DCDA4E33232464601xxxxxxxxxxx
Key Created: Tue Nov 26 06:29:01 2013
Key Expires: (does not expire)
Repository: tmp-update-repo

done]
Building repository 'tmp-update-repo' cache [....done]
Specified repositories have been refreshed.
14:29:56 [INFO]: Update repo added successfully.
14:29:56 [INFO]: Checking OS version ...
14:29:56 [DEBUG]: Installed SLES version = 11.3-1.138.
14:29:56 [DEBUG]: Update repo SLES version = 12.1-1.331
14:29:56 [INFO]: Updating OS release ...
Verbosity: 2
Entering non-interactive mode.
Entering 'no-gpg-checks' mode.
Non-option program arguments: 'sles-release'
Initializing Target
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Force resolution: No
Selecting 'sles-release-12.1-1.331.x86_64' from repository 'tmp-update-repo' for installation.
Resolving package dependencies...
Force resolution: No

Problem: yast2-registration-2.17.38-0.8.43.noarch requires yast2-registration-branding, but this requirement cannot be provided
  deleted providers: yast2-registration-branding-SLE-2.17.38-0.8.43.noarch
 Solution 1: Following actions will be done:
  deinstallation of yast2-registration-2.17.38-0.8.43.noarch
  deinstallation of product:SUSE_SLES-11.3-1.138.x86_64
  deinstallation of pam-modules-11-1.22.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-core-2.17.45-0.5.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-dbus-server-2.17.5-0.5.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-hardware-detection-2.17.2-2.7.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-perl-bindings-2.17.2-1.32.121.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-pkg-bindings-2.17.59-0.9.28.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-storage-2.17.142-0.7.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-ycp-ui-bindings-2.21.1-2.5.107.x86_64
  deinstallation of mdadm-3.2.6-0.19.9.x86_64
  deinstallation of multipath-tools-0.4.9-0.83.2.x86_64
  deinstallation of libxml2-2.7.6-0.31.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of postgresql-8.3.23-0.4.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of postgresql-server-8.3.23-0.4.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of syslog-ng-2.0.9-27.34.36.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of libmng-1.0.10-46.18.x86_64
  deinstallation of cryptsetup-1.0.5_SVNr46-58.37.3.x86_64
  deinstallation of nfs-client-1.2.3-18.31.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of cyrus-sasl-2.1.22-182.20.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of sendmail-8.14.3-50.24.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of liblcms1-1.17-77.16.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of autoyast2-installation-2.17.69-0.7.1.noarch
  deinstallation of bootsplash-3.3-146.24.12.x86_64
  deinstallation of gpg2-lang-2.0.9-25.33.39.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of hal-0.5.12-23.68.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of limal-ca-mgm-perl-1.5.23-0.3.2.x86_64
  deinstallation of limal-perl-1.5.3-0.2.11.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-Config-Crontab-1.21-73.21.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-Config-IniFiles-2.39-1.24.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-HTML-Parser-3.56-1.18.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-HTML-Tagset-3.20-1.22.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-Parse-RecDescent-1.96.0-1.22.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-TimeDate-1.16-71.22.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-URI-1.37-1.22.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-WWW-Curl-4.09-2.1.72.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-X500-DN-0.29-78.22.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-XML-Writer-0.604-2.10.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-XML-XPath-1.13-74.15.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-doc-5.10.0-64.70.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of perl-gettext-1.05-91.95.x86_64
  deinstallation of python-argparse-1.2.1-2.5.65.x86_64
  deinstallation of subscription-tools-1.0-0.21.1.noarch
  deinstallation of suseRegister-1.4-1.35.1.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-2.17.129-0.7.2.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-add-on-2.17.31-0.7.49.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-bootloader-2.17.96-0.7.22.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-country-2.17.54-0.7.9.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-dbus-client-2.17.0-0.1.65.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-installation-2.17.108-0.7.12.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-ldap-2.17.8-0.7.61.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-ncurses-pkg-2.17.20-0.5.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-network-2.17.195-0.7.7.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-online-update-2.17.23-0.7.119.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-packager-2.17.107-0.7.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-transfer-2.16.3-0.5.133.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-users-2.17.54-0.7.151.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-xml-2.16.1-1.23.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-firewall-2.17.13-0.11.11.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-ldap-client-2.17.37-0.7.283.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-mouse-2.16.1-19.38.x86_64
  deinstallation of yast2-pam-2.17.3-0.5.211.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-security-2.17.16-0.7.25.noarch
  deinstallation of yast2-update-2.17.24-0.7.69.x86_64
  deinstallation of zypper-1.6.307-0.7.12.x86_64
  deinstallation of zypper-log-1.6.307-0.7.12.x86_64
  deinstallation of hwinfo-15.50-0.7.3.x86_64
  deinstallation of pm-utils-0.99.4.20071229-12.14.1.x86_64
  deinstallation of gfxboot-4.1.32-0.7.11.x86_64
  deinstallation of klogd-1.4.1-708.44.32.x86_64
  deinstallation of libzypp-9.37.1-0.7.1.x86_64
 Solution 2: do not install sles-release-12.1-1.331.x86_64
 Solution 3: break yast2-registration-2.17.38-0.8.43.noarch by ignoring some of its dependencies

Choose from above solutions by number or cancel [1/2/3/c] (c): c
Verbosity: 2
Non-option program arguments: 'tmp-update-repo'
Removing repository 'tmp-update-repo' [...done]
Repository 'tmp-update-repo' has been removed.
14:29:56 [INFO]: Zypper issue while installing sles-release package.
14:29:56 [ERROR]: Zypper command malfunction. Aborting update procedure ...