NSX upgrade cannot continue due to java.lang.NullPointerException: null error

Products

VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

When upgrading from NSX-T 3.x to NSX 4.x, there might be some stale hosts still showing up in the inventory. NSX cannot finish the host upgrade step due to these hosts have not completed their upgrade.

API calls and/or database editing may have been used to resolve this issue. After the stale hosts got cleaned up in NSX inventory, the upgrade page starts to show the following error message:

java.lang.NullPointerException: null

Similarly, NSX manager node upgrade-coordinator log(var/log/upgrade-coordinator/upgrade-coordinator.log) may show:

2025-03-09T20:25:10.201Z ERROR http-nio-127.0.0.1-7442-exec-8 UpgradeServiceImpl 759342 SYSTEM [nsx@6876 comp="nsx-manager" errorCode="MP30078" level="ERROR" subcomp="upgrade-coordinator"] Error while continuing the upgrade for component null
java.lang.NullPointerException: null
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.host.common.service.HostUpgradeUnitBuilder.setBasicInformation(HostUpgradeUnitBuilder.java:62) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.host.common.service.impl.AbstractHostUpgradeManager.createUpgradeUnit(AbstractHostUpgradeManager.java:70) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.host.common.service.impl.AbstractHostUpgradeManager.getUpgradeUnits(AbstractHostUpgradeManager.java:93) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.host.service.impl.HostUpgradePlanServiceImpl.createAllUpgradeUnits(HostUpgradePlanServiceImpl.java:197) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.host.service.impl.HostUpgradePlanServiceImpl.sync(HostUpgradePlanServiceImpl.java:187) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.host.HostUpgradePlugin.syncPlan(HostUpgradePlugin.java:101) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.pluginframework.PluginManager.syncPlan(PluginManager.java:154) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.service.impl.UpgradePlanSynchronizationServiceImpl.refresh(UpgradePlanSynchronizationServiceImpl.java:92) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.service.impl.UpgradePlanSynchronizationServiceImpl.refresh(UpgradePlanSynchronizationServiceImpl.java:76) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.service.impl.UpgradeServiceImpl.continueUpgrade(UpgradeServiceImpl.java:238) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.facade.UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl.continueUpgrade_aroundBody52(UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl.java:900) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.facade.UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl$AjcClosure53.run(UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl.java:1) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at org.aspectj.runtime.reflect.JoinPointImpl.proceed(JoinPointImpl.java:149) ~[aspectjweaver-1.9.2.jar:1.9.2]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.facade.FacadeInterceptorHelperImpl.proceed(FacadeInterceptorHelperImpl.java:76) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.common.api.FacadeInterceptorAspect.annotatedMethod(FacadeInterceptorAspect.java:80) ~[libmp_common_platform.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.facade.UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl.continueUpgrade(UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl.java:875) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.facade.UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl.executeUpgrade_aroundBody48(UpgradeCoordinatorFacadeImpl.java:792) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]

Upgrade prechecks and continue upgrade options all show the same error message and upgrade is paused.

Environment

VMware NSX-T Datacenter

VMware NSX

Cause

The cause of this issue is undetermined. Please see below section for a workaround.

Resolution

Workaround:

Rolling reboot of NSX manager nodes

If you are contacting Broadcom support about this issue, in order to aid a timely response and resolution, please provide the following:

NSX support bundles for all three manager nodes before and after rolling reboot.
ESXi host log bundles for hosts that are failing to configure as transport nodes (if they still exists).
Text of any error messages seen in NSX GUI or command lines pertinent to the investigation and screenshot.

Handling Log Bundles for offline review with Broadcom support