Replacing a Transport Zone in a prepared NSX cluster

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• You need to replace the Transport Zone Profile used on an NSX cluster.
• You cannot change the current Transport Zone Profile to meet your needs.
• You are NOT using VLCM to manage NSX on your ESXi hosts.

Environment

• VMware NSX

Cause

You may need to change the Transport Zone Profile settings for an ESXi cluster that has already been prepared for NSX, but don't want to change the current one.  This may be because it is being used by other clusters or you are preparing to separate some hosts from a cluster and need to minimize downtime.

Resolution

You can detach a Transport Zone Profile from a prepared cluster and it will continue to use the current configuration until a new Transport Zone Profile is applied.  You can only do this if you are NOT using vSphere Lifecycle Manager to manage NSX on the ESXi hosts.  If you are using Lifecycle Manager, your only choice is to un-prepare the cluster and re-prepare it with the new Transport Zone Profile.  The Detach Transport Zone Profile option will be greyed out.

To remove a Transport Zone Profile from a cluster:

1. Navigate to System->Fabric->Hosts in the NSX UI.
2. Select the cluster you wish to remove the Transport Zone Profile for.
3. Select Actions in the menu above and select the Detach Transport Zone Profile option.
   1. Once the Transport Zone Profile has been removed, you can manage the Transport Zone Profile on each host individually.  

To add a Transport Zone Profile to a host:

1. Navigate to System->Fabric->Hosts in the NSX UI.
2. Expand the cluster that has the host you want to add the Transport Zone Profile to.
3. Select the checkbox for the host you are updating.
4. Select Actions in the menu above and select the Manage Transport Zones option.
5. A window will appear with an option to select the Transport Zone Profile you wish to use.
6. Press the Save button.

Additional Information

Note that traffic flowing across 1 Transport Zone will not be accessible from another Transport Zone.  Once you move a host, VM's will not longer be able to communicate to other VM's in the original Transport Zone unless the traffic is properly routed.

Also note that NSX segments can belong to only 1 Transport Zone.  Once you change the Transport Zone Profile, segments in other Transport Zones will not be available.

Lastly, host nodes can belong to multiple Transport Zones.  If you need to maintain communication with segments in the previous Transport Zone, you may consider adding additional Transport Zone Profiles rather than replacing the Transport Zone Profile for the cluster.

For more detailed information on Transport Zones, please review the online documentation on Creating Transport Zones in NSX.