Pre-check fails with "The URI is invalid" (Error 404/512) due to CM-Inventory Service Failure

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• When performing a pre-check in NSX (e.g., prior to an upgrade or maintenance task), the process fails with the following error message:

Error Code: 512 HTTP Status: 404 NOT_FOUND Module Name: common-services Error Message: "The URI is invalid"

Cause

This issue occurs when the NSX Manager Cluster enters a degraded state. Specifically, the CM-Inventory (Cloud Management Inventory) service on one or more NSX Manager nodes has crashed or stopped responding.

The 404 error is triggered because the management plane cannot route requests to the inventory service, leading to the "Invalid URI" response during the pre-check validation phase. This is often linked to memory exhaustion in the CM-Inventory process when managing a high volume of host objects.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must identify the affected node and restart the failing service.

Step 1: Verify Cluster Status

1. Log in to the NSX Manager UI.

2. Navigate to System > Appliances.

3. Check the status of the managers. If the cluster is Degraded, identify which node shows the CM-Inventory service as "Down" or "Unknown."

Step 2: Restart the CM-Inventory Service

1. Open an SSH session to the NSX Manager node identified as degraded.

2. Log in with admin credentials.

3. Run the following command to restart the service:

   restart service cm-inventor
   

4. Wait 2–3 minutes for the service to initialize.

Step 3: Validate Recovery

1. Check the service status via CLI:

   get service cm-inventory
   

2. Ensure the status shows Running.

3. Return to the NSX UI and verify that the Cluster Status is Stable.

4. Re-run the pre-check.