Error when running yum update "M2Crypto.SSL.SSLError: unknown protocol"

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Issue

  • yum commands are not working to update
# yum list
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Setting up repositories
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/yum", line 29, in ?
    yummain.main(sys.argv[1:])
  File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yummain.py", line 102, in main
    result, resultmsgs = do()
  File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 359, in doCommands
    return self.yum_cli_commands[self.basecmd].doCommand(self, self.basecmd, self.extcmds)
  File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yumcommands.py", line 160, in doCommand
    ypl = base.returnPkgLists(extcmds)
  File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 863, in returnPkgLists
    ypl = self.doPackageLists(pkgnarrow=pkgnarrow)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 970, in doPackageLists
    self.doRepoSetup()
  File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 102, in doRepoSetup
    yum.YumBase.doRepoSetup(self, thisrepo=thisrepo)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 299, in doRepoSetup
    repo.setup(self.conf.cache)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/yumRepo.py", line 503, in setup
    self._loadRepoXML(text=self)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/yumRepo.py", line 530, in _loadRepoXML
    cache=self.http_caching == 'all')
  File "/usr/lib/yum-plugins/rhnplugin.py", line 208, in _YumRepository__get
    start, end, copy_local, checkfunc, text, reget, cache)
  File "/usr/lib/yum-plugins/rhnplugin.py", line 276, in _noExceptionWrappingGet
    http_headers=headers,
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/urlgrabber/grabber.py", line 927, in urlgrab
    return self._retry(opts, retryfunc, url, filename)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/urlgrabber/grabber.py", line 845, in _retry
    r = apply(func, (opts,) + args, {})
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/urlgrabber/grabber.py", line 913, in retryfunc
    fo = URLGrabberFileObject(url, filename, opts)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/urlgrabber/grabber.py", line 1001, in __init__
    self._do_open()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/urlgrabber/grabber.py", line 1072, in _do_open
    fo, hdr = self._make_request(req, opener)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/urlgrabber/grabber.py", line 1172, in _make_request
    fo = opener.open(req)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/urllib2.py", line 358, in open
    response = self._open(req, data)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/urllib2.py", line 376, in _open
    '_open', req)
  :
  :
  :
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/httplib.py", line 804, in request
    self._send_request(method, url, body, headers)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/httplib.py", line 827, in _send_request
    self.endheaders()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/M2Crypto/httpslib.py", line 145, in endheaders
    HTTPSConnection.endheaders(self)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/httplib.py", line 798, in endheaders
    self._send_output()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/httplib.py", line 679, in _send_output
    self.send(msg)
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/httplib.py", line 646, in send
    self.connect()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/M2Crypto/httpslib.py", line 161, in connect
    self._start_ssl()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/M2Crypto/httpslib.py", line 176, in _start_ssl
    self.sock.connect_ssl()
  File "/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/M2Crypto/SSL/Connection.py", line 149, in connect_ssl
    return m2.ssl_connect(self.ssl, self._timeout)
M2Crypto.SSL.SSLError: unknown protocol

Resolution

  • The system is not registered in RHN
    Re-register the system by deleting the file '/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid' if present
  # rhn_register

  • Disable Location Aware:
    How to Disable Location Aware

  • For RHEL 5.0 systems, update the package yum-rhn-plugin according to the errata:
    yum-rhn-plugin bug fix

  • Another reason to obtain this error message is that the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date is pointing to the http protocol instead of https to use the certificate. Ensure the serverURL parameter has the https value

serverURL[comment]=Remote server URL
serverURL=https://xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com/XMLRPC

Diagnostic Steps

  • Check if the system is registered in RHN:
    Registered System List
    If it is not there, re-register the system.

  • Make sure to have the valid Red Hat Network SSL CA certificate stored on your system. If your certificate is expired, please refer to this knowledge to obtain a new cert. To check the validity of /usr/share/rhn/RHNS-CA-CERT, run the following command:

# grep After /usr/share/rhn/RHNS-CA-CERT
            Not After : Aug 26 02:10:55 2013 GMT
            Not After : Feb 24 21:07:08 2020 GMT
  • Component
  • yum

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