When using CentOS 6 (RHEL6, Scientific Linux 6) distribution and OpenVZ RHEL6-based kernel, the following problem occurs while running yum update:
Transaction Check Error: file /lib/firmware/3com/3C359.bin from install of kernel-firmware-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.centos.plus.noarch conflicts with file from package vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab056.11.noarch file /lib/firmware/3com/typhoon.bin from install of kernel-firmware-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.centos.plus.noarch conflicts with file from package vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab056.11.noarch file /lib/firmware/acenic/tg1.bin from install of kernel-firmware-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.centos.plus.noarch conflicts with file from package vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab056.11.noarch file /lib/firmware/acenic/tg2.bin from install of kernel-firmware-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.centos.plus.noarch conflicts with file from package vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab056.11.noarch .... file /lib/firmware/yamaha/ds1e_ctrl.fw from install of kernel-firmware-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.centos.plus.noarch conflicts with file from package vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab056.11.noarch file /lib/firmware/yamaha/yss225_registers.bin from install of kernel-firmware-2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.centos.plus.noarch conflicts with file from package vzkernel-firmware-2.6.32-042stab056.11.noarch
There could also be a different conflict between kernel-firmware and vzkernel-firmware packages.
Explanation
Package vzkernel-firmware is provided for distributions other than RHEL/CentOS 6, which lacks the package. On a CentOS 6, this package is not needed and it conflicts with the kernel-firmware package.
Solution
The solution is to remove vzkernel-firmware package:
# rpm -e vzkernel-firmware