Error: VSI node (5007:) and network configuration loss after ESXi 8.0 U3 upgrade

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• Following an upgrade to ESXi 8.0 U3, the host loses all network connectivity.
• Network configuration options in the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) appear grayed out.
• Running network validation commands in the shell fails with the following errors:
  

  # esxcli network ip interface ipv4 get 
  Error getting ipv4 configuration. Error was: Unable to get node: Not found: VSI node (5007:)

  # net-dvs 
  failed to get config data: Not initialized

  # esxcli network ip interface list 
  Unable to get node: Not found: VSI node (5007:)

• Additionally, while a new standard vSwitch can be created over command line, attempting to create a new VMkernel interface fails with the same VSI node (5007:) error, indicating network stack corruption.

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0 U3
• VMware NSX 3.2.x (previously installed)

Cause

The ESXi host was upgraded to ESXi 8.0 U3 while stale, unsupported NSX 3.2.3 VIBs were still installed on the system (the host was not actively prepared for NSX in the NSX 4.2 UI, leaving legacy VIBs behind). This causes dependency conflicts and network stack corruption during the OS transition.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, the host must be reverted to its previous working state to remove the stale NSX VIBs before reapplying the upgrade.

1. Revert the ESXi host to version 7.0.3 by pressing Shift+R during the boot process. See Reverting to a previous version of ESXi
2. Confirm that there are stale NSX vibs existing in the ESXi host:
   

   esxcli software vib list | grep nsx

3. Remove the legacy NSX VIBs by executing the following command in the ESXi shell:
   

   nsxcli -c del nsx

4. Perform the ESXi 8.0 U3 upgrade using the offline bundle (for help on the upgrade, see ESXi Upgrade):
   

   esxcli software vib install -d <offline_bundle>

Additional Information

ESXi host upgrade from 7.0 to 8.0 fails with "The upgrade has VIBs that are missing dependencies: VMware_bootbank_nsx-datapath_3.1.3.7.0-7.0.19380480"