"Universal objects present" error when converting NSX Manager to Standalone mode

Products

• VMware NSX Networking

Issue/Introduction

To convert the NSX Manager from Transit mode to Standalone mode, remove all conflicting service definitions from logs.

Symptoms:

Converting NSX Manager from Transit mode to the Standalone mode in NSX for vSphere fails with the error:

Unable to assign STANDALONE role. Universal objects of following types are present: Service.
Please delete these objects and try the operation again. NSX manager will remain in TRANSIT state until these objects are deleted.

Note: For additional symptoms and log entries, see the Additional information section.

Environment

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.x

Cause

This issue occurs if you convert NSX Manager from the transit mode to the standalone mode when universal objects are present in the NSX Manager.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, remove all conflicting service definitions from logs:

1. Log in to the vSphere Web client.
2. Click NSX Manager home.
3. Select Manage.
4. Select Grouping Objects.
5. Select the Service definition option, such as Security Group, IP Sets, MAC Sets, Service, Service Groups, or IP Pools, present in the vsm.log file.
6. Remove all conflicting service definitions.
   
   Note: Continue to repeat these steps until all conflicting objects are removed, the logs list the first 5 conflicting entries only.
    
7. Convert the NSX Manager to Standalone mode.

Additional Information

You experience these additional symptoms:

• In the vsm.log file of NSX Manager, you see entries similar to:
  
  2016-05-17 11:26:00.757 EDT INFO http-nio-127.0.0.1-7441-exec-8 ReplicationConfigurationServiceImpl:150 - Role validation successful
  2016-05-17 11:26:00.765 EDT INFO http-nio-127.0.0.1-7441-exec-8 DefaultUniversalSyncListener:61 - 1 universal objects exists for type Application
  2016-05-17 11:26:00.767 EDT INFO http-nio-127.0.0.1-7441-exec-8 DefaultUniversalSyncListener:66 - Some objects are (printing maximum 5 names): Conflicting-Service-Name1
  2016-05-17 11:26:00.773 EDT WARN http-nio-127.0.0.1-7441-exec-8 ReplicationConfigurationServiceImpl:100 - Setting role to TRANSIT because following object types have universal objects Application.
  
  Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.