NSX Global search for an IP address does not list all the Groups which it is part of

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• When an IP address is searched on NSX Global search, all the groups are not listed which that IP address is part of.
• However, searching for this IP address in Inventory -> Groups page via filter "Members : IP address" lists all the groups as expected.

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

NSX Global Search relies on search index. It searches for strings existing within the object's definition/attributes. Whereas, filtering groups by "Members : IP address" in Inventory -> Groups page relies on realization/policy.

Let's say there is a Virtual Machine named "mint" with an IP address "172.16.10.200".

One group is created with name linux and Virtual Machine "mint" is added as a member using the following steps:

1. Go to Inventory -> Groups page.
2. Click on ADD GROUP.
3. Set the Group Name as "linux".
4. Click on Set for Compute members.
5. Click on Members.
6. In the Category drop down, select "Virtual Machines".
7. Select the "mint" Virtual Machine.
8. Click on Apply.

Create another group with name linux-explicit-ip-member and add IP address 172.16.10.200 as member using the following steps:

1. Go to Inventory -> Groups page.
2. Click on ADD GROUP.
3. Set the Group Name as "linux-explicit-ip-member".
4. Click on Set for Compute members.
5. Click on IP Addresses.
6. Enter IP address 172.16.10.200 in the field "Enter IP Addresses".
7. Click on Apply.

When View members is selected for group named linux (where Virtual Machine was added as a member), both the Virtual machine and realized IP address are visible as members:

When View members is selected for group named linux-explicit-ip-member, only the IP address is visible as member:

 

When Groups are filtered using the filter "Members : IP address", both the groups are visible in results as this filter relies on realization i.e. it'll show the groups where IP address are realized from Virtual machine and IP address which is direct member of the group.

However, as NSX Global search searches for strings existing within the object's definition/attributes, it only shows group linux-explicit-ip-member because IP address was explicitly added as a member and does not show the other group linux because IP address was realized as a member inside the group.

 

 

Resolution

This is an expected behavior.

To list the groups where IP address is an explicit member and realized member, utilize the filter "Members : IP address" in Inventory -> Groups page.