Troubleshooting VMware NSX Uninstall Process

Products

VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

VMware NSX components must be uninstalled in a particular order and each component may experience interruptions of the uninstall process. Each component’s uninstall will have to be researched individually. This article details:

The expected product remove steps
What documentation is required should troubleshooting be needed
How to gather that documentation prior to opening a case with Broadcom Support.

Environment

VMware NSX

Resolution

During a standard Networking and Security Installation, NSX is installed on the following components of vSphere:

ESXi hosts
vCenter Server (Extension)

To uninstall NSX fully, it needs to be removed from all installed components, and all NSX objects need to be removed from the environment.

Uninstalling NSX from an ESXi host

Remove all workload virtual machines from all NSX related networks. These VMs can be moved to non-NSX networks via the following:
1. Edit their configuration within vCenter.
2. Power them down
3. Move off the host
  OR
4. The host can be placed into vSphere Maintenance Mode.
For a Single Host
- Via vCenter, put the host into vSphere Maintenance Mode
- Once the host is in Maintenance Mode, move the host to the Datacenter level of the vCenter Inventory
- Once the host is at the Datacenter level of vCenter, return to the NSX interface and go to System → Fabric → Hosts → Other Nodes.
  - If a Transport Node Profile is in use, once the host has been removed from the cluster it should begin uninstalling NSX from the host automatically.
  - If a Transport Node Profile is not in use, or if the uninstall doesn’t begin automatically, click the checkbox beside the ESXi host’s name and click Remove NSX.
    - If this is the first attempt to remove the ESXi host from NSX, click Delete without checking the “Force Delete” checkbox. This will attempt to uninstall the NSX VIBs from the ESXi host and properly remove the host from the NSX Manager database. If this fails for any reason, perform the next step with the “Force Delete” option enabled before attempting to use cli commands to remove NSX from the host.
- If multiple attempts have been made to uninstall NSX from this host and they have failed, check the “Force Delete” checkbox and then click Delete. This will NOT uninstall the NSX VIBs from the ESXi host. It will force NSX to forget the host and allow the working of ESX host CLI commands without negative impact on the NSX database (i.e. This will prevent stale host entries remaining in the NSX database.)
For all hosts in a cluster
- NOTE: Removing a Transport Node Profile (TNP) from a cluster will NOT initiate a VIB uninstall from all hosts in the cluster.
- Click the Checkbox beside the cluster name and then click "Remove NSX"
- Click "REMOVE" on the popup dialog box that appears.
- The uninstall will begin on all hosts in the cluster.
- Any errors or uninstall failures will be reported in the NSX GUI and will need to be addressed individually. Use the "For Individual Hosts" section of this document to start troubleshooting and attempting to work around single host uninstall failures.
After ALL hosts have successfully been removed from NSX and All NSX VIBs are uninstalled, no NSX port groups should appear in the vCenter interface.
- NSX Segments as seen in the NSX GUI
- vCenter Networks with NSX Segments available (some hosts fully installed with NSX)
- vCenter Networks with no NSX Segments available (all hosts uninstalled)

Delete NSX Edges

Before NSX can be removed from vCenter, all objects inside vCenter need to be deleted from the vCenter Inventory. This is particularly important when Edges and NSX Managers have been deployed using the NSX GUI into the vCenter Inventory.
Edge nodes need to be shut down and deleted, but first any T0s or T1s assigned to them need to be deleted.
- From Networking -> Segments -> Disconnect all Segments from Any T1s or T0s. This can be done by setting the "Connected Gateway" to "None."
- Click Save.
- Close Editing.
If a Segment has any features supported on Service Routers (i.e. services inside Edge Nodes), those services will need to be removed before the segment can be disconnected from the T1/T0. However, a segment can be deleted if services are associated with it.
- If a segment is still referenced by a T1/T0, it will not be allowed to be deleted and the T1/T0 will have to be edited to remove the uplinks associated with these segments.
- In this instance, the T0 has multiple interfaces and is using them to peer with several BGP neighbors
- Delete all BGP neighbors
- Delete all Interfaces
- Close Editing
Return to Networking → Segments and delete the remaining segments.
Delete any remaining T1 and T0 gateways.
Navigate to System → Nodes → Edge Clusters.
- Select the Edge Cluster by clicking the checkbox, then click Edit.
- In the Edit Edge Cluster dialog box, check the edges on the right and click the blue arrow to move them to the Available box on the left
- Click Save.
- Delete the Edge Cluster.
Click Edge Transport Nodes
- Select all Edges by clicking the checkbox beside the Edge header
- Click Delete. All Edges will be deleted from the NSX inventory.
  - If the Edges were deployed via the NSX GUI, the virtual machines will be powered down and deleted from the vCenter inventory automatically.
  - If the Edges were deployed manually (via OVA), they will not be deleted from the vCenter inventory. They will need to be powered down and deleted manually via the vCenter user interface.

Delete NSX Managers

Any NSX Manager deployed via the NSX GUI must first be deleted before removing the vCenter from the Compute Manager page (same as with Edges). This means the NSX Manaagers will have to be deleted, leaving only the original manager node that was deployed via OVA.
The NSX interface will show this message/alert when attempting to delete the Compute Manager is an NSX component has been deployed using the GUI
To delete any NSX Managers still associated with this Compute Manager
- Navigate to System -> Appliances
- Select the NSX Manager to be deleted via the GUI
- Click Actions → Delete
- NOTE: Only Managers that were deployed using the GUI will have the Delete command as a selection option.

Delete the Compute Manager (i.e. Uninstall NSX from a vCenter Server)

Once the only NSX Manager remaining is the OVA deployed node, vCenter can be removed from NSX via the System → Fabric → Compute Managers page.
Select the Compute Manager by clicking the checkbox beside the Compute Manager name.
Click Delete.
Click Delete in the popup dialog box.
If no components, such as Edges or NSX Manager nodes exist inside the vCenter, the Compute Manager will be removed.
If done properly, and without errors, this will also remove the NSX Extension from the vCenter Server. Should it not, follow the instructions in the the Section Titled "Delete the NSX Extention from vCenter Server" and validate the uninstall is complete.
The remaining NSX Manager node can now be safely shut down and deleted from vCenter Inventory

Delete the NSX Extension from vCenter Server

Remove NSX-T Data Center Extension from vCenter Server

Additional Information

Known Issues when attempting to uninstall NSX from a host:

Known issue when attempting to uninstall NSX from vCenter:

Failed to delete Compute Manager in NSX-T

If you are contacting Broadcom support about this issue, provide the following:

Attempt to perform the uninstall operation on the desired component.
Recreate the error
- Record all steps necessary to recreate the error
- Record all text of any error messages as they appear in the graphical interface
- Include timestamps of when the recreate began and when the error occurred
Retrieve log bundles from all NSX Managers, ESXi hosts, and vCenter Servers involved
- Include host names that failed uninstall attempts

Handling Log Bundles for offline review with Broadcom support: