How to Identify the Username Used When Registering a Compute Manager in VMware NSX

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

When adding a Compute Manager (vCenter) to NSX-T, a username and password are required during the initial registration.
However, once the Compute Manager is added, the NSX UI does not display the stored username, making it difficult to determine which account was originally configured—especially in environments deployed several years earlier.

Customers may need this information for auditing, credential rotation, or validation purposes.

Environment

VMware NSX 3.x and 4.x

Cause

This behavior is by design.
NSX Manager masks stored credentials for security reasons.
After a Compute Manager is successfully registered, the username is not shown in the UI and cannot be retrieved by editing the entry.

Resolution

Method 1 – Retrieve Username via Corfu DB (Recommended & Tested)

1. SSH into one of the NSX Manager nodes using root credentials.

2. Run the following command to extract the Compute Manager configuration:

   /opt/vmware/bin/corfu_tool_runner.py -o showTable -n nsx -t ComputeManagerStatusModelMsg > ComputeManagerStatusModelMsg.txt

3. Open the generated text file and search for "username".

4. The stored vCenter credential will appear in clear text, for example:

   "username": "[email protected]"

Method 2 – Check NSX Log Files

1. SSH to NSX Manager

2. Navigate to CM inventory logs:

    

   cd /var/log/cm-inventory/

3. Search for registration details:

    

   grep "COMPUTE_MANAGER_REGISTRATION_STATUS" cm-inventory.log

or

grep "username" cm-inventory.log

 

Method 3 – Check vCenter Logs (If NSX logs unavailable)

On the vCenter appliance, inspect the vpxd.log for NSX extension registration entries:

/var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log

Search for strings like:

com.vmware.nsx.management.nsxt MoExtensionMgr username