Flows and Telemetry Metrics Not Visible for NSX datasource Despite IPFIX is Enabled

Products

• VCF Operations for Networks

Issue/Introduction

Even though IPFIX is successfully enabled and synchronized between VCF Operations for Networks and NSX Manager, dashboards such as Flows and Top Talkers remain empty because NSX 4.1.2.2 and later require a valid VMware vDefend license for DFW-based telemetry collection.

Without the license, NSX accepts the IPFIX configuration, but the ESXi transport nodes do not generate or export flow data, resulting in missing network flow visibility.

As seen below under the 'Enable DFW IPFIX' option, there is a comment saying that NSX version 4.1.2.2 or higher would require an active DFW license and DFW must be enabled to receive the flows 

Resolution

To restore network flow visibility and telemetry analytics:

• Apply a valid VMware vDefend license to the NSX environment.
  
  
• Ensure the Distributed Firewall (DFW) feature is enabled and active.
  
  
• Verify that IPFIX remains enabled on both:
  • VCF Operations for Networks
  • NSX Manager
• Allow a few minutes for telemetry data generation and synchronization.

Once the vDefend license is applied and DFW is operational, the NSX transport nodes will begin generating IPFIX flow records, and the telemetry dashboards in VCF Operations for Networks should populate successfully.