SDDC Manager Disconnections due to NSX Manager Root Password Expiration

Products

• VMware NSX
• VMware SDDC Manager

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Multiple NSX accounts are displayed as disconnected within the SDDC Manager dashboard.
• Root, Admin, and Audit accounts are expired.
• Attempts to remediate passwords through the SDDC Manager UI result in failure.
• The NSX Manager UI displays error messages regarding the Audit account status.
• Direct CLI login to NSX Manager nodes as root, triggers a prompt stating passwords have expired and must be updated

Environment

VMware SDDC Manager

VMware NSX

Cause

The disconnections are caused by the expiration of the Root, Admin, and Audit passwords across three NSX Manager clusters. This prevents SDDC Manager from authenticating and communicating with the NSX components.

Resolution

Follow the below steps to resolve the issue: 

1. Log into the CLI of each NSX Manager node as root and with existing password and reset the Root password when prompted. 

2. Log in as root with new root password created in step 1, and follow the steps outlined in the product documentation to reset the admin and audit passwords. 

3. Navigate to Password Management section in the SDDC Manager UI on the left under:  Security > Password Management

4. Remediate the NSX nodes with the newly set passwords.

5. Select the NSX Manager tab.

   1. Remediate the Root Account:

      1. Find the root user row for the relevant NSX Manager cluster.
      2. Click the vertical ellipsis (three dots) at the end of the row and select Remediate.
      3. Enter the new root password you manually set on the node.
      4. Click Remediate, wait for the task to complete in the "Tasks" pane.

   2. Repeat steps 1-4 for Audit and Admin accounts for all NSX nodes shown with a disconnected state. 

6. If the Admin account remediation fails in SDDC Manager, then see KB 314647 for additional steps.