Running zypper or yum commands on a client results in an error: "File '/repodata/repomd.xml' not found"

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Environment

SUSE Manager 4.0

SUSE Manager 3.2

SUSE Manager 3.1
SUSE Manager 3

Situation

Running any zypper or yum command on a client managed by SUSE Manager, no matter it is a traditional or salt client, results in an error similar to this one:

# zypper pa
File '/repodata/repomd.xml' not found on medium 'https://XXXXXXXXXXXX:443/rhn/manager/download/sle-manager-tools12-pool-x86_64-sp3?eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJleHAiOjE1ODMxMzcwNTUsImlhdCI6MTU1MTYwMTA1NSwibmJmIjoxNTUxNjAwOTM1LCJvcmciOjEsImp0aSI6IlNLNjg1VVZ6V1RsdEwzMjFlUlRBWkEiLCJvbmx5Q2hhbm5lbHMiOlsic2xlLW1hbmFnZXItdG9vbHMxMi1wb29sLXg4Nl82NC1zcDMiXX0.PdPaKAryxI7DzB8EKWgXcnXp9TLE6G420ei8qyHNjhI'
Abort, retry, ignore? [a/r/i/...? shows all options] (a):

# yum repolist
Loaded plugins: aliases, changelog, kabi, presto, product-id, refresh-packagekit, search-disabled-repos, security, subscription-manager,
: susemanagerplugin, tmprepo, verify, versionlock, yumnotify
This system is not registered with an entitlement server. You can use subscription-manager to register.
Loading support for Red Hat kernel ABI
https://XXXXXXXX:443/rhn/manager/download/res7-ha-x86_64/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] PYCURL ERROR 22 - "The requested URL returned error: 403 Forbidden"
Trying other mirror.
To address this issue please contact SLES Expanded Support

Resolution

The cache associated to the channels showing such errors should be regenerated. For the channels in the example, the commands would be:

rm -f /var/cache/rhn/repodata/sle-manager-tools12-pool-x86_64-sp3/* /var/cache/rhn/repodata/res7-ha-x86_64/*

spacecmd softwarechannel_regenerateyumcache sle-manager-tools12-pool-x86_64-sp3

spacecmd softwarechannel_regenerateyumcache res7-ha-x86_64

The process can be tracked by running the command "taskotop" (the package "spacewalk-utils" needs to be installed for this purpose).

Cause

Repodata was either missing or corrupt. One of the reasons for the corruption could be an uncontrolled and/or unexpected shutdown of the SUSE Manager (due to power loss, virtualization host problems, etc).

Additional Information

Such errors can be found in the repository synchronization logs as well, located in /var/log/rhn/reposync. It can be useful to check for the string "repomd.xml" or "error" in all files, and see if any other channel might need a regeneration of its cache.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.