VMs cannot be vMotioned to other hosts due to nsxa being down

Products

VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Attempting to migrate (vMotion) a VM between ESXi hosts fails with the error “nsxa is down,” as shown in the screenshot below :
The nsxa module on the vDS of the destination host is down. To verify :
- SSH to the host.
- Run the following command:
  net-dvs -l | grep "switch)\|common.alias\|nsxa"
No errors reported on NSX UI, ESXi host/ Edge shows connected to the manager and controller.
- On ESXi host/Edge nsxcli, following commands "get controllers" and "get managers" will result as connected.

On ESXi host nsxcli, following commands may not show any information (empty output) related to segments and logical switches.

ESXi host# nsxcli
ESXi host> get segments
                      Segments Summary
------------------------------------------------------------
                    Overlay Kernel Entry
============================================================
  VNI                    DVS name                 VIF num
                     Overlay LCP Entry
============================================================
  VNI                 Segments UUID                 Name
                     VLAN Backed Entry
============================================================
             Segments UUID               VLAN ID
ESXi host> get logical-switches
                  Logical Switches Summary
------------------------------------------------------------
                    Overlay Kernel Entry
============================================================
  VNI                    DVS name                 VIF num
                     Overlay LCP Entry
============================================================
  VNI              Logical Switch UUID              Name
                     VLAN Backed Entry
============================================================
          Logical Switch UUID             VLAN ID

On NSX manager in the log file location /var/log/cloudnet/nsx-ccp-events.log states that ESXi Host transport node completing the handshake with CCP but not finishing full sync.

cat /var/log/cloudnet/nsx-ccp-events.log | grep -i "accepts incoming"
2025-07-20T00:11:13.552Z EVENT nsx-rpc:CCP-<CCP UUID>:user-executor-2 VersionMastershipServiceImpl 73820 - [nsx@6876 comp="nsx-controller" level="EVENT" subcomp="handshake"] Accepts incoming connection from TN <TN UUID>

Environment

VMware NSX 4.x

Cause

The issue is caused by an incomplete or unsuccessful realization between the control plane and the data plane causing segments and logical switches to not show up on the host correctly.

Resolution

Perform a Rolling Reboot of the NSX Managers to trigger a re-realization of the control plane and the management plane :

Reboot the first NSX Manager.
SSH to a Manager as admin user and check cluster health: get cluster status
When all services report up on all 3 NSX Manager nodes, reboot the next Manager.
Repeat steps 2-3 for the third Manager.