Troubleshooting NSX Native Load Balancer Issues using VMware Aria Operations

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• This article outlines the essential data and graphs to collect from VMware Aria Operations for effective troubleshooting of NSX Native Load Balancer (LB) data path and capacity-related issues.
• Collecting this information provides critical insights into Historical LB performance, session management, and underlying Edge Node resource utilization, enabling quicker diagnosis and resolution.

Environment

VMware NSX

Resolution

Required Scoping Info :

 Gather the following Scoping Details 

• NSX Version:
• Load Balancer Details:
  • Name:
  • UUID:
  • Virtual Server Name:
  • Pool Members (IPs):
• Edge Details (for the LB):
  • Active Edge (Name & IP):
  • Standby Edge (Name & IP):

Any Active Edge Alarms on NSX UI:

Data/Graph Collection Steps from VMware Aria Operations:

1. Current Sessions Graph:
This graph shows the number of active connections being handled by the Virtual Server. A sudden peak , drop or sustained high number might indicate issues.

• Step 1: Log in to VMware Aria Operations.
• Step 2: Use the global search bar (Elastic Search) to find the Virtual Server by its Name. Select the correct Virtual Server object from the search results.
• Step 3: Navigate to Metrics → Sessions.
• Step 4: Select the "Current Sessions" metric.
• Step 5: Choose the required time span (e.g., Last 6 hours, Last 24 hours, Custom Range) to observe trends.

2. Dropped Sessions Graph:
This graph indicates the number of sessions that the Load Balancer failed to establish or maintain. High numbers here are a strong indicator of problems.

• Step 1: Log in to VMware Aria Operations.
• Step 2: Use the global search bar (Elastic Search) to find the Virtual Server by its Name or UUID. Select the correct Virtual Server object.
• Step 3: Navigate to Metrics → Sessions.
• Step 4: Select the "Dropped Sessions" metric.
• Step 5: Choose the required time span to observe trends.

3. Throughput Graph (Edge Node Network Usage):
This graph shows the network I/O of the active Edge Node hosting the Load Balancer.

• Step 1: Determine the Active Edge Node that is serving the Load Balancer traffic (from the scoping details gathered).
• Step 2: Log in to VMware Aria Operations.
• Step 3: Use the global search bar (Elastic Search) to find the Edge Node by its VM Name or IP address. Select the correct Edge VM object from the search results.
• Step 4: Navigate to Metrics → Network.
• Step 5: Select the "Usage" metric (often displayed as combined Tx/Rx or separate for transmit/receive).
• Step 6: Choose the required time span.

4. CPU Usage Graph (Edge Node CPU Usage):
This graph shows the CPU utilization of the active Edge Node. 

• Step 1: Determine the Active Edge Node that is serving the Load Balancer traffic.
• Step 2: Log in to VMware Aria Operations.
• Step 3: Use the global search bar (Elastic Search) to find the Edge Node by its VM Name or IP address. Select the correct Edge VM object.
• Step 4: Navigate to Metrics → CPU.
• Step 5: Select the "Usage" metric.
• Step 6: Choose the required time span.
  
  Please refer to the below KB for Troubleshooting NSX T Native load balancer :
• https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/376344/troubleshooting-nsx-native-load-balancer.html