As a summary of other discussion and especially for @VMware to publish & implement this workaround.
The update process for 5.1 Update 1 on the vCenter Server Appliance may take more than 45 minutes, VMware mentions this in the release notes of 5.1U1 ("Workaround: none") and in the generic update documentation KB article 2031331 (even "90 to 120 minutes"). There is a very simple fix for this:
- log in to the appliance via SSH as root or on the console
- execute "rm /usr/lib64/.lib*.hmac"
- perform the update using the web UI
I've tested this with two identical installations of the appliance (5.1.0b) and the update to 5.1U1. Without the fix the update took around 45 minutes, with the fix less than 10 minutes. Found no side effects during my tests, these hash files are deleted at the end of the update process anyway. Before that they cause the vami-sfcb (and all other processes using SSL) to fail with messages like:
OpenSSL internal error, assertion failed: FATAL FIPS SELFTEST FAILURE
Details here
Virtual Aspects: Workaround for the vCenter Server appliance 5.1U1 update delay
and here
Updating vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 to 5.1 U1 fails
Cheers,
Martin