NSX Edges are in Failed or Unknown state after NSX restore from backup

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• On the NSX UI, under System -> Fabric -> Nodes, Edges are in Failed or Unknown state.
• A major disaster event has resulted in the full or partial loss of the vSphere environment
• As a result Virtual Machines have been lost including NSX Edge VMs
• vCenter and NSX have been restored from backup

Cause

NSX backup captures configuration and state only; it does not include VM binaries for Edge nodes.

Edge nodes are virtual appliances and must be redeployed in the event of complete infrastructure loss.

In case of only MP failure and if Edge nodes are still present in vCenter during the restore, they are automatically re-registered with NSX Manager

 

Resolution

After Restore NSX Manager from backup:

Redeploy Edge nodes manually using either of the two options below:

• Use the NSX Manager API: Redeploy an NSX Edge VM Appliance(API)
• Use the NSX Manager UI: Replace an NSX Edge Transport Node Using the NSX Manager UI

From NSX 4.2 onwards, you can use the Redeploy option in the NSX Manager UI.

If Edges were originally deployed via OVF, they must be redeployed manually from OVF.

NOTE: Cold clone or snapshot-based restores of NSX Manager or Edge VMs are not supported.

Additional Information

This behavior is expected, NSX backup/restore is designed for configuration state only, not VM redeployment.

Recommended practice:

• Always deploy Edge nodes via NSX Manager UI for ease of redeployment and lifecycle operations.
• For more information on restoring a backup, refer the Admin Guide: Restore from Backup.