Bug 480183

Description of problem:
Various RHN registered RHEL 5 systems without prior history of yum update problems suddently fail to update properly intermittently (sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't for a long time). 

The fault has been observed on various systems (at different points of our network). We rule out network/routing/ntp timing and hardware issues with these systems. 

From the command line of one of the registered systems (example system 'cn2'):

[root@cn2 ~]# yum list available
Loading "security" plugin
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
rhel-x86_64-server-5      100% |=========================| 1.4 kB    00:00
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================|  137 B    00:00
Error: failed to retrieve repodata/primary.xml.gz from rhel-x86_64-server-5
error was [Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum

WHEREAS at other times it works properly:

[root@cn2 ~]# yum list available
Loading "security" plugin
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
rhel-x86_64-server-5      100% |=========================| 1.4 kB    00:00
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================|  137 B    00:00
rhn-tools-rhel-x86_64-ser 100% |=========================| 1.2 kB    00:00
rhel-x86_64-server-fastra 100% |=========================| 1.2 kB    00:00
rhel-x86_64-server-produc 100% |=========================| 1.2 kB    00:00
rhel-x86_64-server-vt-5   100% |=========================| 1.4 kB    00:00
rhel-x86_64-server-supple 100% |=========================| 1.4 kB    00:00
Available Packages
....output excluded

The system is properly registered at RHN with the entitlements as cn2.internal.biotek .

An attempt to do a total update fails:

[root@cn2 ~]# yum update
Loading "security" plugin
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
rhel-x86_64-server-5      100% |=========================| 1.4 kB    00:00
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================|  137 B    00:00
Error: failed to retrieve repodata/primary.xml.gz from rhel-x86_64-server-5
error was [Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum

Attempts to clean and jumpstart yum also fail:

[root@cn2 ~]# yum clean all
Loading "security" plugin
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
Cleaning up Everything
[root@cn2 ~]# yum update
Loading "security" plugin
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
rhel-x86_64-server-5      100% |=========================| 1.4 kB    00:00
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================|  137 B    00:00
Error: failed to retrieve repodata/primary.xml.gz from rhel-x86_64-server-5
error was [Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum




Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Installed Packages
Name   : yum
Arch   : noarch
Version: 3.2.8
Release: 9.el5_2.1
Size   : 2.2 M
Repo   : installed
Summary: RPM installer/updater
Description:
Yum is a utility that can check for and automatically download and
install updated RPM packages. Dependencies are obtained and downloaded
automatically prompting the user as necessary.

[root@cn2 ~]# uname -a
Linux cn2.internal.biotek 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5 #1 SMP Fri Dec 5 09:28:22 EST 2008 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux



How reproducible:
VERY reproducible. Across different systems (Dell, HP) on different LAN or network locations.

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Ensure that the system is RHN registered (check the RHN web page)
2.Invoke a yum update or yum list available op.
3.Watch the failure and attempt a yum clean all
4.Repeat step 2 and watch the failure
  
Actual results:


Expected results:


Additional info:
The issue was observed by more people on this RedHat-list thread:
https://www.redhat.com/archives/redhat-list/2009-January/msg00101.html