VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.0a released

I have John to thank, from his heads-up comment. Here's the 2 VMware links you're looking for:

vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.0a | 31 OCT 2013 | Build 1398493

Appliance Version 5.5.0.5100 Build 1312297 is what was current, right up until Nov 01 2013's release of 1398493. I don't really want to download and re-install the appliance though, I prefer to use the "Check Updates" button over on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance Web UI:
https://vcenter:5480/#update.Status (where your hostname replaces my vcenter name)

You may want to grab a snapshot of your VCSA (VMware vCenter Server Appliance) before you begin, in case you have an issue that requires roll-back.

Next, just click the "Check Updates" button, with the entire update procedure taking about 15-20 minutes for my lab, with 4GB allocated of RAM in the VM, thin-provisioned on a SATA3 SSD.

Oct 31 2013 Original Article:
Documenting an issue that has now been resolved.

Unfortunately, when I click the button, after about 45 seconds, I get this error:

Failed to check for updates(Error downloading manifest. Please contact your vendor. Couldn't resolve host 'vapp-updates.vmware.com' URL: https://vapp-updates.vmware.com/vai-catalog/valm/vmw/8e70f769-fd50-4a7a-bee2-2c0d945e23b0/5.5.0.5100.latest/manifest/manifest-latest.xml) on Saturday, November 2, 2013 11:56:39 PM GMT-04:00

Perhaps in a few more days, VMware will fix this, with an adjustment to manifest file or something along those lines. Meanwhile, anybody have any ideas, as far as a way around this, since the repository it's trying to use doesn't seem to work:
https://vapp-updates.vmware.com/vai-catalog/valm/vmw/8e70f769-fd50-4a7a-bee2-2c0d945e23b0/5.5.0.5100.latest