NSX UI Error: "Search indexes are currently being re-created" and Inventory Overview Fails to Load
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NSX UI Error: "Search indexes are currently being re-created" and Inventory Overview Fails to Load

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Article ID: 438039

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Updated On:

Products

VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Users experience failures when attempting to load various sections of the NSX Manager UI, including the Inventory Overview, System Overview, and Certificates pages. The UI displays the following red banner error messages:

  • Failed to get "INVENTORY OVERVIEW" report - Search indexes are currently being re-created. Please try after some time.
  • Failed to get report - An unknown error has occurred.
  • Failed to get "Certificates" report - Search indexes are currently being re-created. Please try after some time.

Additionally, objects such as Virtual Machines may fail to populate in the UI or appear as "Realized" effective members in Distributed Firewall (DFW) Generic Groups due to this backend synchronization failure.

Environment

VMware NSX 4.x

Cause

The search indexing service across the NSX Manager cluster becomes unresponsive or gets stuck in a persistent "re-creating" loop. Standard CLI mitigation attempts, such as running a manual index resynchronization (start search resync all), fail to clear the hung state.

Resolution

To resolve this issue and clear the stuck indexing service, perform a sequential rolling reboot of the NSX Manager cluster:

  1. Log in to the vSphere Client.

  2. Gracefully restart the guest OS of the first NSX Manager appliance VM.

  3. Wait for the manager to fully power back on, initialize its services, and rejoin the cluster (verify via get cluster status from the CLI).

  4. Repeat this reboot process sequentially for the remaining two NSX Manager VMs.

Once the rolling reboot is complete across all three nodes, the search index services will start cleanly, the UI components will load successfully, and all objects will populate correctly.

Additional Information

 

If VMs were previously failing to realize in DFW Security Groups, verifying the groups after the cluster reboot often confirms that the realization issue was a secondary symptom of the indexing failure.

 

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