NSX ESXi host transport node upgrade failing at 60%.

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

During an NSX upgrade of ESXi host transport nodes, the upgrade process stalls or fails at approximately 60% completion.

Error: "Heartbeating between NSX management node and host [Host-UUID] is down."

• Host configuration status appears as "Disconnected" or "Failed" in the NSX UI.
• Host may have high uptime

Environment

VMware NSX 4.x

ESXi 7.x or 8.x

 

Cause

High host uptime can lead to stale processes. When the upgrade attempts to restart the MPA or proxy services, they may fail to check in with the Manager within the allotted timeout window.

 A temporary connectivity during the VIB installation can break the heartbeat tunnel between the ESXi host and the NSX Manager.

Resolution

Method 1: 

1. Log in to the affected ESXi host via SSH using the root user.

2. Restart the ESXi management services by executing the following command: #services.sh restart

3. Wait 3-5 minutes for the agents to initialize and attempt the upgrade.

Method 2: 

If restarting the services does not clear the error, use the NSX Manager’s built-in "Resolve" feature to force a re-synchronization of the management plane.

1. In the NSX Manager UI, go to System > Fabric > Nodes > Host Transport Nodes.

2. Locate the host showing the failure and click on the "Configuration Failed" or "Node Message" link to open the error dialog.

3. In the "Select Errors to Resolve" pop-up, locate the specific error: "Heartbeating between NSX management node and host... is down".

4. Click the checkbox next to the heartbeat error > Click the 'Resolve' button at the bottom of the window.

Additional Information

Related Broadcom KBs:

NSX upgrade failed with heartbeat down error.

"Waiting for MPA" or heartbeat errors on ESXi 7.x upgrades.