NSX Manager boots into emergency mode due to underlaying storage issues

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

When opening console of NSX Manager, the following error message appears.

You are in emergency mode. After logging in, type "journalctl -xb" to view
system logs, "systemctl reboot" to reboot, "systemctl default" or "exit"
to boot into default mode.
sulogin: tcgetattr failed: Input/output error
Give root password for maintenance
Reloading system manager configuration
13.514408] audit: kauditd hold queue overflow
13.521293] audit: kauditd hold queue overflow
13.538282] audit: kauditd hold queue overflow
Starting default target
Failed to start default target: Transaction for nsx-custom. target/start is destructive (emergency.ta
rget has 'start' job queued, but 'stop' is included in transaction).

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

It may be because of following reasons:

• File System Corruption: When the file system is corrupted, Manager appliance OS might choose to mount it as read-only to prevent further damage.
• Improper System Shutdown: Abrupt power loss or an unclean system shutdown can lead to a read-only file system.
• Hardware Issues: Faulty hard drives or damaged sectors can cause the file system to switch to read-only mode.
• Incorrect File System Configuration: Mistakes in the /etc/fstab file or other configuration files can result in a read-only file system.

Resolution

Follow KB article Manager node disk/partition is mounted as read-only alarm in NSX Manager Disk Corruption correction using FSCK to fix file system error.