Attempting to apply an old host profile on a newly installed host results in compliance failure with a difference in netStackCount

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• ESX host has been freshly installed
• NSX used to be in the environment but has been uninstalled
• The host profile was created while NSX was installed on the hosts
• Attempting to apply the host profile fails reporting the number of netStacks (netStackCount) on the new freshly installed host does not match. The host profile expects 2 or more. The freshly installed host has only 1.

Environment

• VMware vSphere vCenter Server
• VMware NSX

Cause

The host profile was created when multiple network stacks were applied to the original source host (e.g. vxlan and default). The new host, by default, has a single network stack since it is a fresh install (e.g. default).

Resolution

Resolution Path 1: Deactivate the NetStack Component

Host Profiles do not natively support the hard deletion of ingested sub-profiles from the UI. To suppress the error, you must deactivate the subprofile to eliminate the attribute from the compliance check How Do You Edit a vSphere Host Profile Policy?.

To instruct the Host Profile to ignore the stale VXLAN netstack:

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to Menu → Policies and Profiles → Host Profiles.
2. Right-click the affected Host Profile and select Edit Host Profile.
3. Expand the configuration hierarchy: Networking configuration → NetStack Instance.
4. Locate the VXLAN netstack subprofile.
5. Deselect the checkbox next to VXLAN (and explicitly the netStackCount attribute if exposed) to deactivate the compliance check for this component.
6. Click Save and re-check host compliance.

Resolution Path 2: Extract a Clean Host Profile

To permanently remove the netStackCount discrepancy from the source profile configuration:

1. Identify a clean reference ESXi host that does not have the residual VXLAN netstack or stale vmkernel ports.
2. Extract a new Host Profile from this clean reference host.
3. Attach the new Host Profile to the target cluster or hosts.
4. Validate compliance to ensure the mismatch is fully resolved.