Newly Created NSX Segments Fail to Show Up in the vCenter Network Inventory

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

NSX segments are created with ENS (Enhanced Network Stack) enabled.  The network segment is realized in NSX, but is not realized in the vCenter networking inventory.  This can occur without ENS being enabled, but this article covers an added issue that is only seen with ENS enable and Transport Node Profile creation or modification. 

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

When a segment is created it must be associated to a Transport Zone.  This Transport Zone is then added to the Transport Node Profile which will then present the scoped resources to vCenter.  vCenter will only know what the Transport Node Profile tells it for inventory. Inclusion of the Transport Zone in the list of the Transport Node Profile is a must for any segment to be presented to vCenter inventory.

If a segment is created with an association to a Transport Zone that is not in the Transport Node Profile list, it will not appear in vCenter.  

For this example only segments associated with the three transport zones listed above in the screenshot will be populated in vCenter.

When configuring Transport Node Profiles that have an ENS Overlay Transport Zone, the Advanced Configuration settings will be required.  If this is not configured, NSX will not allow the Transport Node Profile to be saved.

Resolution

This NSX segment JessTest is associated with the Transport Zone "tz-edp-performance-overlay".  It does not appear in the vCenter network inventory.   This is due to the Transport Node Profile not including the segment's Transport Zone in its list of transport zones.  Transport Zone "tz-edp-performance-overlay" must be added.  The following are the steps needed to include transport zone "tz-edp-performance-overlay" in the transport node profile.

Identify what transport node profile is applied to the cluster.  This example uses the applied profile "hosts-edp-performance-tnp"
 System → Hosts → Applied Profile

Now navigate to Transport Node Profile tab.  From the list choose the transport node profile that is used and click on the blue numeric value under Host Switch.

The configurations for the transport node profile will open.

In this example the transport zone for the ENS overlay "tz-edp-performance-overlay" is not in the list of transport zones.  It needs to be added.  Also note that there is an overlay transport zone profile already in the list.  This is not allowed.  The configuration here is a mapping of "port groups" on the vDS in the targeted vCenter. Note the selection of vCenter and vDS in the configuration.  A vDS can only have a single overlay transport zone.  In this example the transport zone nsx-overlay-transportzone will need to be removed from the list first since it is also an overlay.


Clicking in the transport zone list field the drop down menu of transport zones will appear.  Choose the needed transport zone.

Since this system has ENS enabled, Advanced Configuration settings become active when this Transport Zone is added.

The image inset at the bottom right corner shows the settings to be addressed.  The minimum values are:

NUMA Node Index  = 0
LCores per NUMA Node = 1

These values will allow the configuration to complete and make the "ADD" button active.  Then the APPLY button can be clicked to complete the configuration of the Transport Node Profile.

This task is successful when the missing NSX segments are now visible in vCenter network inventory.

NOTE:
   This setting is mean for Telco.  Telco SEBU is usually involved with customers to review and advise on the setting values that are to be configured.