Error: "NSX Dataplane upgrade is not available for domain mgmt since all vCenter and ESX on the dependent domains are not upgraded." during NSX Edge Clusters / NSX upgrade failure

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager / VCF Installer
• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

• Issue occurs during an upgrade to VCF 9.1

• NSX is installed and vCenter is configured as a Compute Manager, but no NSX Transport Nodes (neither Host nor Edge Transport Nodes) have been configured.

• SDDC-Manager successfully upgrades the NSX Manager, vCenter, and ESXi hosts to version 9.1.0, but the Dataplane Appliance component fails to become available.

• Consequently, the Finalize_Upgrade stage of the NSX upgrade cannot be performed via SDDC-Manager.

• Upgrade Sequence displays following message:

VMware NSX Edge Clusters 9.1.0.0 Upgrade and NSX Upgrade Finalize

Released 5/12/26

NSX Dataplane upgrade is not available for domain mgmt since all vCenter and ESX on the dependent domains are not upgraded. To complete the update of an NSX instance you must add the vCenter and ESX components to the update plan of this and all dependent domains. After you update the vCenter, ESX, and NSX Manager components, you can finalize the update.

If present upgrade the NSX Edge clusters in one or more sequential batches followed by the completion of the NSX Upgrade process.

Environment

VCF: 9.1

Cause

• In the scenario described above, the NSX inventory lacks Transport Nodes, meaning the NSX Host component upgrade is never triggered.

• Because this step is bypassed, the subsequent stages of the NSX upgrade (following the NSX Manager component) never initiate, preventing the upgrade from completing within SDDC-Manager.

Resolution

1. Log in to the NSX Manager UI, navigate to the Upgrade page, and manually perform the NSX Host component upgrade.

2. Verify that the UI shows the host component as successfully upgraded.

3. Sync the NSX upgrade status with SDDC Manager.

   Option A: Via SDDC-Manager - Perform a version sync operation on SDDC-Manager to ensure it recognizes the updated versions of all NSX components. Follow the steps in KB, "SDDC Manager inventory version sync API does not update ESX host version if it has been changed out-of-band (OOB)", wait 5 minutes for the SDDC Manager UI to refresh, the NSX Dataplane Appliance component should now be available. - Complete the remaining upgrade stages through SDDC-Manager UI.

   Option B: Via NSX Native (UI/API) - It is now safe to proceed with the NSX Edge upgrade and Finalize Upgrade components directly within NSX. Important: Even if the NSX upgrade is completed via native NSX APIs or the UI, you must still perform the version sync operation mentioned above. This sync is required whenever an Out-of-Band (OOB) upgrade is performed to ensure SDDC-Manager stays aligned. Follow the steps in KB, "SDDC Manager inventory version sync API does not update ESX host version if it has been changed out-of-band (OOB)"