Host Upgrade Fails During Pre-Check With "Error Code Cannot Be Null" in NSX

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• During upgrade process, host pre check fails with an error : "Failed to execute ESXi maintenance-mode upgrade dataplane check. Error Code can not be null"
  
  
•  Attempts to manually continue the upgrade also fails with an error: "Pre-upgrade checks failed for HOST: Please check logs for more details.".
  
  
• The following log messages may appear in the NSX Manager log file:
  var/log/upgrade-coordinator/upgrade-coordinator.log:
  
  2025-05-09T08:46:56.176Z  INFO pool-50-thread-12 UpgradeMessagingServiceImpl 2634030 SYSTEM [nsx@6876 comp="nsx-manager" level="INFO" subcomp="upgrade-coordinator"] decoded type=com.vmware.nsx.sfhc.ServiceFabricMessage.SfhcMessage msg=message_type: MT_OPERATION_STATUS
operation_id: "########-####-####-####-###########"
operation_status {
  status: COMMAND_SUCCESS
  fabric_object_identifier: "########-####-####-####-###########"
  message: "{\n  \"status\": \"FAILURE\",\n  \"failedChecks\": [\n    {\n      \"id\": \"vdrUpgradeLCPSyncCheck\",\n      \"errorCode\": 32116,\n      \"errStr\": \"VDR kernel module and LCP sync state is not ready. Host reboot required before proceeding\"\n    }\n  ],\n  \"successfulChecks\": [\n    {\n      \"id\": \"multipleDpModulesCheck\"\n    },\n    {\n      \"id\": \"cfgAgentCheck\"\n    },\n    {\n      \"id\": \"packetCaptureCheck\"\n    },\n    {\n      \"id\": \"underlayHostDaemonCheck\"\n    },\n    {\n      \"id\": \"teamPolicyUpDelayCheck\"\n    },\n    {\n      \"id\": \"resourceGrpMemoryCheck\"\n    }\n  ]\n}\n"
}
return_same_correlationid: true

2025-05-09T08:46:56.177Z ERROR pool-50-thread-12 UpgradeServiceImpl 2634030 SYSTEM [nsx@6876 comp="nsx-manager" errorCode="MP30956" level="ERROR" subcomp="upgrade-coordinator"] Failed to execute check ESXi maintenance-mode upgrade dataplane check
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Error Code can not be null
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.common.exceptions.ErrorClass.<init>(ErrorClass.java:51) ~[libcommon-util.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.inspection.BasicInspectionTaskResult.addFailure(BasicInspectionTaskResult.java:143) ~[libuc-core.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.common.task.CustomInspectionTask.doSplitExecute(CustomInspectionTask.java:157) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.nsx.management.upgrade.plugin.common.task.CustomInspectionTask.execute(CustomInspectionTask.java:77) ~[libnsx-upgrade-plugins.jar:?]

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

The pre-upgrade checks for the ESXi hosts failed due to an unsynchronized state of the VDR kernel module and Logical Control Plane (LCP).

Resolution

To resolve the Host- precheck failure:

1. Reboot the affected ESXi host(s) to clear the VDR and LCP sync issue.

2. Retry the upgrade pre-check from the NSX Manager UI.

3. Monitor pre-check completion before proceeding with the host upgrade.