NSX Host Configuration Options Grayed Out on vSphere Configuration Profiles (VCP) Enabled Clusters

Products

• VMware NSX
• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• When a cluster is managed by vSphere Configuration Profile (VCP) you are unable to configure NSX on the cluster from the NSX UI.
• The checkbox for the cluster is grayed out and cannot be selected.
• The cluster denotes VCP is enabled.
  
• In vCenter Server UI, when the cluster was created, the option "Manage configuration at a cluster level" was selected.
  

Environment

• vSphere 8.x
• vSphere 9.x
• NSX 4.x
• NSX 9.x

Cause

vSphere Configuration Profiles require the NSX Transport Node Profile to be applied via the VCP. 

 

Resolution

VCP requires that you manually attach a Transport Node Profile using the configuration policy from vSphere Cluster Configuration.

Note: This requires specific compatible versions on all components. NSX 9.0.x, VC 9.0.x, and ESX 9.0.x will work with VCP and prepare for NSX with a Transport Node Profile applied via the VCP.  Any other combination is not supported.

Preparing ESX Cluster Hosts as Transport Nodes through vCenter

The VI admin undertakes the following workflow to prepare an ESX cluster as Transport Nodes:

1. Create a VDS host switch.

2. Create a VCP enabled cluster or enable VCP on an existing cluster.

3. Add hosts to this cluster if required.

4. From the Configure tab of this cluster, create a draft for the cluster from its Config Manager by using any of the following options:

   • Create Draft

   • Import From File

   • Import from Host

5. Run the pre-check and apply changes.

6. Check the compliance.

7. Once all the steps are completed, transport nodes are prepared for NSX. You can check the progress from vCenter.

          Applying the change to VPC profile for the Cluster by going to

         Configure → Desired State → Configuration → Draft → nsx → fabric → transport_node_profile → Configure Settings

• The policy_path is copied from the NSX interface System → Hosts →  Transport Node Profile → Click the 3 vertical dots → Copy Path to Clipboard
  
  

Additional Information

The below limitation also blocks the Virtual Private Clouds deployment wizard as we do not have NSX configured on the cluster. In order to get Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) configured on a VPC enabled cluster, you will need to prepare the ESX cluster with a Transport Node Profile (TNP) as described in the resolution.

Using vSphere Configuration Profiles to Manage Host Configuration at a Cluster Level

Limitations to Using vSphere Configuration Profiles:

• You can't deactivate vSphere Configuration Profiles.
• With vSphere 8.0 Update 1, you can enable vSphere Configuration Profiles for a cluster that uses vSphere Distributed Switch. Note that you can only view the vSphere Distributed Switch configuration of the hosts in the cluster. Both, your vCenter Server instance and all ESXi hosts in the cluster managed with a single image, must be of version 8.0 Update 1 and later.
• Starting with vSphere 8.0 Update 3, you can manage the vSphere Distributed Switch configuration of the hosts in a cluster with enabled vSphere Configuration Profiles. You can also use the workflows for managing and configuring the vSphere Distributed Switches described in the vSphere Networking documentation. Both, your vCenter Server instance and all ESXi hosts in the cluster managed with a single image, must be of version 8.0 Update 3 and later.
• You can't enable vSphere Configuration Profiles on a cluster with DPU-backed hosts.
• You can't enable vSphere Configuration Profiles if NSX is also enabled for the cluster when your hosts are running vSphere 8.x.