NSX-T temporary nsx.LogicalSwitch: <UUID#> segments created in vCenter

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Portgroups having a prefix "nsx.LogicalSwitch:" are created during the migration of a brownfield NSX-V environment to a new greenfield VCF environment.

Symptoms:

After a migration from V2T or from a legacy site to an new VCF, replacement port groups with the prefix "nsx.LogicalSwitch:" appear in vCenter Network inventory.

These are temporary port groups that are created by the migration process that should automatically be removed once the migration completes.

Notice the icon is a cloud. You will not see any reference to these port groups (Segments) in the NSX manager UI under Network⇒Segments.

NSX will not have any record of these temporary port groups. They only exist within vCenter.

Environment

VMware NSX 4.1.1
VMware NSX-T
VMware NSX 4.0.0.1
VMware NSX-T Data Center

Cause

When objects to be removed or deleted have associations to other objects in the environment, they can not be removed or deleted. vCenter and NSX will not allow the deletion of objects without removing any object that references it. Things that can cause this issue are snapshots that have not been deleted or consolidated and templates. If snapshots or templates were created while these associations existed, then they will also contain references to resources that existed when the snapshot or template was created. The system will see these associations and block the deletion or removal process until they are addressed.

Resolution

The above screenshot reveal the problematic port groups that have not been deleted. Under the Virtual Machines and VM Templates tab the resources that are attached to the port group will be seen.

1. Power down the virtual machines listed under the Virtual Machines list.
2. Check if there are any templates associated with this portgroup.
3. Record the location of the vmx file for each virtual machine in the list.
4. Open the settings menu for the VM. Then select the VM Option tab.
5. Expand General Options to show the VM Config File. This will display which datastore and directory the .vmx file is located.  Record this location as it will be use in a later step to register the virtual machine back into the vCenter inventory.
6. Right click on the VM to open the Options menu.
7. Select Remove from Inventory. Be very careful not to accidentally select Delete from Disk. This is a permanent.
   

Deletion of the VM and cannot be undone.

These steps must be performed for each virtual machine that was listed for the port group. Once the VMs have been removed from inventory, the port group should no longer be seen.

 

Re-inventory the Virtual machines

1. Navigate to the datastore where the .vmx file for the virtual machine is located. This was recorded in the earlier Step 3.
2. Check the box next to the VM's .vmx file and then click Register VM. A wizard will pop up to lead you through the rest of the registration process.

The following wizard opens

Completion of the wizard places the VM into inventory based on the answers to the wizard. The final page of the wizard is as follows

The VM will now be returned into the vCenter inventory.

These steps will be performed for every VM that was removed from inventory.

This process will done for each problematic port group with the prefix "nsx.LogicalSwitch:".

 

 

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

Portgroups with the "nsx.LogicalSwitch:" prefix are non impacting.  They have no impact on performance or function.