NSX Installation Stalls at 48 Percent Due to Stale VIBs on ESXi Host

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to prepare an ESXi host as a Transport Node, the installation progress stalls at 48% with the status "Waiting for Connection to Managers."

To confirm this issue, run the following command on the ESXi host CLI: esxcli software vib list | grep nsx.

If VIBs remain on the host after a removal attempt or during a fresh install, this confirms the presence of stale components blocking the management plane connection. 

Environment

VMware NSX 4.2.x

Cause

The root cause is the presence of stale NSX VIBs and persistent metadata properties on the ESXi host. This typically occurs when a host is removed and re-added to a cluster without a clean decommissioning of the NSX components, preventing the host from successfully joining the Management Plane during re-preparation.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, please use the following workaround:

 

1. Delete NSX from Host: In the NSX Manager UI, navigate to System > Fabric > Nodes > Host Transport Nodes and select the host then use the dropdown menu to "Delete NSX", force option may be used if the normal deletion did not complete.
2. Confirm NSX VIBs are still persiste on the host: esxcli software vib list | grep nsx.
3. Force VIB Removal: Execute the following command to manually force the deletion of the NSX VIBs:

   nsxcli -c del nsx

4. Verify Removal: Confirm that the VIBs have been successfully removed by running:

   esxcli software vib list | grep -E 'nsx|vsipfwlib'

   The output should return no results.
5. Reboot and Reinstall: Reboot the ESXi host. Once the host is back online, return to the NSX Manager UI and attempt to reinstall/configure the host as a Transport Node.