NSX Critical Alert Notifications for Open and Resolved States: Understanding the Native Limitations

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Users may want to know if VMware NSX (formerly NSX-T) supports native email alerts or notifications for NSX critical alerts, including notifications for both open and resolved alert states. Currently, there is no visible option within the UI to configure SMTP settings for sending such alert notifications directly through NSX.

Environment

VMware NSX

Cause

The built-in backup scheduler in the NSX Manager is designed to execute the file transfer to a remote SFTP/HTTP server but does not include a native SMTP (email) engine. The system logs the outcome internally but lacks a built-in mechanism to push those specific status logs to an email address automatically.

Resolution

NSX  does not possess a native SMTP engine within the NSX Manager appliance to dispatch direct email communications.

•  There is no visible toggle within the UI to input SMTP settings for direct alerts reports.
  
  
• Currently, alerts status must be monitored via the NSX Manager UI or through external integration. To manage this, follow these approaches:
  
  
• Manual Verification: Navigate to Home > Alarms in the NSX Manager console to view the "alerts."
  
  
• Log Forwarding (Recommended): Configure NSX to forward Syslog data to a log management tool (such as VMware Aria Operations for Logs or Splunk). You can then create an alert rule in that tool to email you whenever a "Alerts triggered" or "Alerts resolved" string is detected in the logs.

VMware Aria Operations
Integrating NSX with Aria Operations enables comprehensive health monitoring. The Outbound Settings within Aria Operations can be configured to trigger email alerts based on specific NSX alert definitions.