Stale vRNI IPFIX profile can't be removed from NSX-T Manager

Products

• VMware NSX
• VMware NSX-T Data Center

Issue/Introduction

When managing NSX-T environments integrated with vRNI (now Aria Operations for Networks), administrators may encounter persistent IPFIX profiles that cannot be deleted. This issue typically occurs after:

• Removing NSX as a data source in vRNI, but finding the IPFIX profile remains in NSX-T
• Attempting to remove the IPFIX profile directly from the NSX-T UI without success
• Trying to reintegrate vRNI, only to encounter errors about duplicate profiles

The problem becomes especially evident when force-removing transport nodes with DFW IPFIX enabled. After force removal, users commonly encounter error messages such as "The requested object: NSGroup could not be found" when attempting to edit NSGroups, or "The requested object: IpfixCollectorConfig could not be found" in notification alerts.

Environment

• VMware NSX-T Data Center
• VMware NSX
• Environments using vRNI/Aria Operations for Networks with DFW IPFIX enabled

Cause

The root cause of this issue is an incomplete cleanup process when force-removing Transport Nodes in NSX-T environments where DFW IPFIX is enabled through vRNI.

When a Transport Node is force-removed, the system:

• Bypasses standard cleanup procedures for dependencies
• Fails to properly remove references in ServiceConfig objects
• Leaves invalid references in NSGroups that point to non-existent components
• Creates orphaned IPFIX configurations that cannot be managed through the UI

These stale references break the relationship between NSX and vRNI components, preventing normal operations and causing persistent errors. This problem primarily affects environments that have been upgraded from earlier versions, as the cleanup mechanism was improved in NSX-T 3.2 and later releases.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in NSX-T Data Center 3.2 and later versions. For upgraded environments, you may see residue stale objects from Highline that continue to cause problems even after upgrading. A workaround will need to be applied to clean up these legacy objects.

Workaround

1. Open a Support Request with Broadcom Support
2. The NSX-T team at Broadcom Support will assist with identifying and cleaning up stale objects using specialized scripts
3. The cleanup process typically involves:
   • Identifying ServiceConfig objects bound to problematic NSGroups
   • Removing stale references to deleted Transport Nodes
   • Deleting and recreating IPFIX configurations as needed