Virtual machine snapshots are not supported on NSX Manager and Edge nodes

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

When performing maintenance, such as an upgrade to NSX, users may attempt to take VMware vSphere snapshots of NSX Manager or Edge Transport Node virtual machines as a rollback mechanism. However, using VM-level snapshots on these appliances can lead to severe cluster instability, database corruption, or management plane inaccessibility.

 

Symptoms:

• NSX Manager UI or API becoming unresponsive.
• Database synchronization failures (Corfu/Postgres).
• High CPU utilization on management nodes.

Environment

VMware NSX

NSX-T Data Center 

Cause

NSX appliances utilize a distributed database and real-time state synchronization that cannot be safely quiesced or restored via standard vSphere snapshots without risking data inconsistency across the cluster.

Resolution

Do not use virtual machine snapshots for NSX Managers or Edges.

Follow the supported file-based backup and restore procedure:

1. Configure Backup: Navigate to System > Lifecycle Management > Backup & Restore in the NSX Manager UI.
2. Register Server: Provide credentials and path for a supported SFTP or FTP server.
3. Execute Backup: Run a manual backup before starting any upgrade or major configuration change.
4. Verify Integrity: Confirm the backup state is "Success" and the files are present on the remote server.
5. Restore: If a rollback is required, deploy a new OVA of the exact same version and use the Restore workflow to recover the configuration from the SFTP server.

Additional Information

NSX Manager UI becomes inaccessible when snapshots are enabled on the appliance.

Backup and Restore During Upgrade