ESXi transport node goes into not responding state after reboot

Products

VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

ESXi transport node goes into not responding state in vCenter after a reboot
Management VMkernel adapter is present on the ESXi host
Host management VMkernel adapter is created on the VDS switch
DCUI reports the ESXi host IP as 0.0.0.0
You recently attempted to remove NSX from this ESXi transport node and it failed
Running esxcfg-vswitch -l command from ESXi host gives error Listing failed for DVSwitch, as in the below screenshot

Listing failed for DVSwitch: DvsPortset-0, Error: Unable to get MTU: Status(bad0007)= Bad parameter
hostd.log reported the below error for any vSwitch related changes performed

2025-05-27T06:35:26.603Z info hostd[2106890] [Originator@6876 sub=Solo.Vmomi opID=esxui-84f5-9ce6 user=root] Result:
--> (vim.fault.PlatformConfigFault) {
--> faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
--> (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
--> key = "com.vmware.esx.hostctl.default",
--> arg = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
--> (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
--> key = "reason",
--> value = "Unable to Disassociate Proxy DVS: Status(bad0003)= Not found"
vmkernel.log reported the below error

2025-05-27T05:37:31.933Z cpu90:2097842)WARNING: NetDVS: 2779: Failed to write critical property com.vmware.nsxData.vdl2.forwardingMode on DVS 50 ## ## 9a ## ## 77 72-ce ## ## cb e5 ## ## 7c, return :Not found.
2025-05-27T05:37:31.933Z cpu90:2097842)NetDVS: 9794: Failed to associate DVS 50 ## ## 9a ## ## 77 72-ce ## ## cb e5 ## ## 7c with proxy DvsPortset-0
.
2025-05-27T05:37:31.948Z cpu90:2097842)WARNING: NetDVS: 1850: Attempt to associate with DVS 50 ## ## 9a ## ## 77 72-ce ## ## cb e5 ## ## 7c with no proxy vswitch, port 10 (type 1)
2025-05-27T05:37:31.948Z cpu90:2097842)WARNING: NetDVS: 903: Connect to DVS port 10 failed Not found
2025-05-27T05:37:31.948Z cpu90:2097842)Net: 3374: DVS 50 ## ## 9a ## ## 77 72-ce ## ## cb e5 ## ## 7c port 0 not associated: Not found.
2025-05-27T05:37:31.948Z cpu90:2097842)WARNING: Tcpip_Vmk: 1721: Could not open a port to 10: Not found
2025-05-27T05:37:31.948Z cpu90:2097842)WARNING: Tcpip_Vmk: 1349: Unable to attach vmk2 to 10 [error = 0xbad0003]
From the net-dvs -l command output of the ESXi host, you see that the com.vmware.nsx.vdl2.enabled property is after com.vmware.nsxData.vdl2.forwardingMode property

com.vmware.nsxData.vdl2.forwardingMode = 0x 0. 0. 0. 1
propType = RUNTIME
com.vmware.common.opaqueDvs.status.component.lcp.vdl2SyncStatus = up , propType = RUNTIME
com.vmware.common.opaqueDvs.status.component.lcp.liveness = up , propType = RUNTIME
com.vmware.common.opaqueDvs.status.component.lcp.ccpSession = up , propType = RUNTIME
com.vmware.common.opaqueDvs.status.component.lcp.kcpSyncStatus = up , propType = RUNTIME
com.vmware.common.opaqueDvs.status.component.vswitch = up , propType = CONFIG
com.vmware.common.opaqueDvs.status.component_list = nsxa,vdl2,vswitch,lcp.ccpSession,lcp.liveness,lcp.vdl2SyncStatus,lcp.kcpSyncStatus , propType = CONFIG
com.vmware.host.feature.container = 1 , propType = CONFIG
com.vmware.nsx.vdl2.enabled = true , propType = CONFIG

Environment

VMware NSX
VMware vSphere

Cause

The cause of the issue is because the com.vmware.nsx.vdl2.enabled DVS property is set after forwardingMode property.

Resolution

This is a known issue with NSX and will be resolved in future release.

Workaround:

To workaround the issue, follow the below steps.

SSH to the ESXi host using root user.
Unset the forwardingMode property.
net-dvs -u "com.vmware.nsxData.vdl2.forwardingMode" -p hostPropList <DVS-Switch-NAME>

Note: Update the VDS switch name in the above command
Check if the forwardingMode property is unset successfully.
net-dvs -l | grep forwardingMode
Persist it to the configstore.
net-dvs --persist
Reboot the ESXi host.

Note: Do not use force reboot

Additional Information

ESXi NSX 4.2.1 vDS no longer able to attach VMKs after patching from ESXi 7.0.3 P09 to ESXi 7.0 Update 3s

If the workaround in this knowledge base article does not resolve the issue, please open a support ticket with Broadcom Support and select NSX as the product.

Handling Log Bundles for offline review with Broadcom support