NSX-CLI shows internal error when executing commands on Windows bare metal server

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• NSX-CLI command console display the following error message:

nsx> get controllers % An internal error occurred

• NSX-CLI logs (nsxcli.log) display message(s) similar to:

cmd> notepad C:\ProgramData\VMware\NSX\Logs\nsxcli.log

2020-11-11T17:48:57.492Z 172 cli.descriptors.cli_command_service INFO CMD: get controllers

2020-11-11T17:48:57.508Z 172 cli ERROR Unexpected exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\\cli\python\cli\server\nsxcli.py", line 944, in main
user_input, raw_output, context)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\server\cli_command_service.py", line 362, in invoke_command
return self.inner_invoke_command(cmd_str, raw_output, context)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\server\cli_command_service.py", line 633, in inner_invoke_command
context, normalized_cmd_list, verify_argument)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\server\cli_command_service.py", line 1161, in _invoke_command
modifier_str, context)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\server\cli_command_service.py", line 1228, in _render_output
descriptor.render(parts[1], modifier_str)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\descriptors\cli_command_descriptor.py", line 445, in render
output_prefix = generate_datetime_stamp_str(start_time)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\utilsender_utils.py", line 391, in generate_datetime_stamp_str
result = get_system_datetime()
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\utils\system_utils.py", line 28, in get_system_datetime
rc, out, err = invoke_command(cmd)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\cli\python\cli\utils\command_utils.py", line 113, in invoke_command
stderr=err_stream)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\Python\lib\subprocess.py", line 775, in __init__
restore_signals, start_new_session)
File "c:\Program Files\VMware\NSX\nsx-cli\Python\lib\subprocess.py", line 1178, in _execute_child
startupinfo)
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified

• NSX-CLI display datetime stamp in output is enabled.

nsx> get cli-output datetime

Output datetime is: enabled

Cause

The "get" command fails to execute because Cygwin is not available at path <code>C:\cygwin</code>.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in NSX-T 3.1.1 and above.

Workaround:
To workaround the issue, disable displaying date time stamp in command outputs using the following command:

• nsx> set cli-output datetime disable

To verify the date time stamp display status, the following command can be used:

• nsx> get cli-output datetime

Expected output when display date time stamp is enabled:

• Output datetime is: enabled

Expected output when display date time stamp is disabled:

• Output datetime is: disabled