7U3: Get-VMHostFirmware A general system error occurred: Internal error

[chall32]

Hey all,

Following https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2042141

Running PowerCLI v12.4 and trying to backup the config of a newly deployed 7.0U3 (build 18644231) host via the command:

Get-VMHostFirmware -VMHost "192.168.25.130" -BackupConfiguration -DestinationPath C:\Temp

Receiving the following error via PowerShell:

Get-VMHostFirmware : 07/10/2021 15:50:29	Get-VMHostFirmware		A general system error occurred: Internal error	
At line:1 char:8
+ $Bkp = Get-VMHostFirmware -VMHost "192.168.25.130" -BackupConfigurati ...
+        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-VMHostFirmware], SystemError
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_SystemManagementServiceImpl_BackupVmHostFirmware_ViError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.Host.GetVMHostFirmware

Checking the hostd.log on the host being backed up, the following can be seen:

2021-10-07T14:50:26.929Z info hostd[67218] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.TaskManager opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] Task Created : haTask--vim.host.FirmwareSystem.backupConfiguration-22
2021-10-07T14:50:26.933Z error hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=SysCommandPosix opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] Failed to ForkExec /sbin/firmwareConfig.py: No space left on device
2021-10-07T14:50:26.933Z error hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=SysCommandPosix opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] Invocation of process: '/sbin/firmwareConfig.py' failed: Resource error - Process Creation - Error: VmkuserCompat_ForkExec - Error No space left on device
2021-10-07T14:50:26.933Z error hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] SysCmd [/sbin/firmwareConfig.py ++group=hostd-tmp,mem=120 --backup /usr/lib/vmware/hostd/docroot/downloads/52ff03dc-1824-6e7e-f0fd-2483fed1618a] invocation failed: Resource error - Process Creation - Error: VmkuserCompat_ForkExec - Error No space left on device
2021-10-07T14:50:26.933Z info hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=AdapterServer opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] AdapterServer caught exception; <<5262a00e-bc88-43d6-23ae-26badb42c225, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 8307'>, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 31631'>>, ha-firmwareSystem, vim.host.FirmwareSystem.backupConfiguration>, N5Vmomi5Fault11SystemError9ExceptionE(Fault cause: vmodl.fault.SystemError
--> )
--> [context]zKq7AVICAgAAAAd9HAELaG9zdGQAAOJCF2xpYnZtYWNvcmUuc28AAbhMT2hvc3RkAAEA21EB5raSgkeLGQFsaWJ2aW0tdHlwZXMuc28AAbB/UgCcxS0AJAEuANIOPwM7fQBsaWJwdGhyZWFkLnNvLjAABL2nDmxpYmMuc28uNgA=[/context]
2021-10-07T14:50:26.935Z info hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=Vimsvc.TaskManager opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] Task Completed : haTask--vim.host.FirmwareSystem.backupConfiguration-22 Status error
2021-10-07T14:50:26.935Z info hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] Activation finished; <<5262a00e-bc88-43d6-23ae-26badb42c225, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 8307'>, <TCP '127.0.0.1 : 31631'>>, ha-firmwareSystem, vim.host.FirmwareSystem.backupConfiguration>
2021-10-07T14:50:26.935Z info hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] Throw vmodl.fault.SystemError
2021-10-07T14:50:26.935Z info hostd[68361] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=54b7e8b1 user=root] Result:
--> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
-->    reason = "Internal error",
-->    msg = "",
--> }

I'm using a 32GB HDD as discussed https://core.vmware.com/resource/esxi-system-storage-changes#section6 

[root@bob:/bin] df -h
Filesystem   Size   Used Available Use% Mounted on
VMFS-6      99.8G  17.8G     82.0G  18% /vmfs/volumes/local
VMFS-6      24.5G   1.4G     23.1G   6% /vmfs/volumes/datastore1
VMFS-L       6.2G   2.8G      3.4G  45% /vmfs/volumes/OSDATA-615f02a7-6d1518f5-113b-000c291c4ec3
vfat       499.7M 203.6M    296.1M  41% /vmfs/volumes/BOOTBANK1
vfat       499.7M   0.0B    499.7M   0% /vmfs/volumes/BOOTBANK2
[root@bob:/bin]

If found some old posts related to backup issues and /scratch/downloads folder not existing.  Not the same issue here:

[root@bob:~] cd /scratch/downloads
[root@bob:/vmfs/volumes/615f02a7-6d1518f5-113b-000c291c4ec3/downloads] ls
[root@bob:/vmfs/volumes/615f02a7-6d1518f5-113b-000c291c4ec3/downloads]

Reinstalling the host with 6.7 U3  (build 17700523), the command completes without issue and a backup file is generated.

Does anyone have any ideas?