NSX Manager Web UI inaccessible after OVA deployment due to stopped services

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• After a successful OVA deployment of the NSX Manager appliance, the Web User Interface (UI) fails to load. Attempts to access the Manager IP or FQDN via a web browser result in a "Connection Refused" or "Site cannot be reached" error.
• The NSX Manager VM is powered on and pingable.
• SSH and Console access are functional.
• The following services are observed to be in a stopped state when running get services:

• • manager
  • http
  • control-plane

Environment

• VMware NSX 4.x

 

Cause

The internal service initialization sequence failed to complete during the first boot. This is often caused by temporary resource contention, slow storage I/O during database schema creation, or the appliance's inability to resolve its own hostname during the boot cycle.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, manually start the required services via the NSX Command Line Interface (CLI).

1. Open the console of the NSX Manager via the vSphere Client or connect via SSH using the admin credentials.
2. Run the following command to identify which services are stopped:
   get services
3. Start the core management service:
   start service manager
   Note: The manager service may take several minutes to fully initialize.
4. Start the web service:
   start service http
5. (Optional) Start the control-plane service if it remains stopped:
   start service control-plane
6. Verify the status of the services:
   get service manager
   get service http
7. Once both services report a running status, the Web UI will be accessible

Additional Information

If services fail to start or return to a stopped state, ensure the following:

• The VM has the required CPU and Memory reservations (e.g., 16GB/4 vCPU for Small, 32GB/6 vCPU for Medium).
• DNS is correctly configured and the Manager can resolve its own FQDN.