Vihostupdate.pl I/O error 17

While working to update several new ESXi 4.1 U1 servers I found and interesteing error. Everytime I tried to scan the host or apply an update I received this errors:

C:Program Files (x86)VMwareVMware vSphere CLIbin>vihostupdate.pl –server 19
2.168.190.94 –username root –password password –scan –bundle d:offline-bu
ndledriver-offline_bundle.zip
Error encountered:
   Description – I/O Error (17) on file /var/tmp: [Errno 17] File exists: ‘/var/tmp'
   Message     – Unable to create, write or read a file as expected.I/O Error (17) on file /var/tmp: [Errno 17] File exists: ‘/var/tmp'

After doing some troubleshooting I found out the problem. The ESXi servers where missing the /tmp/scratch/var/tmp directory.  Login to the ESXi server and execute mkdir -p /tmp/scratch/var/tmp and the error will disappear .

Hope this helps someone.