Create NSX Transport Node Collection fails with "Failed to realize transport node" in vLCM clusters

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• During the installation of NSX from SDDC manager, a task fails with the following error:
  Unable to create transport node collection... Cause: Failed to realize transport node.
  
  
• In the NSX Manager UI, cluster preparation status shows "Preparation Failed".
  
  
• Resolving the cluster level error, NSX host preparation stalls at 15% and fails with "Install Skipped" error.  Selecting the "Install Skipped" hyperlink reveals the following information:
  Failed to install software on host. Health Check for '######' failed Host '######' was not processed, the reason: 'Health Check for '######' failed
  
  
• The VLCM user interface may indicate that all hosts are complaint, when remediation is run.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation
VMware NSX
vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) enabled clusters

Cause

A conflict exists within the vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) workflow where a failed or skipped health check on a reference host prevents the realization of the NSX Transport Node Collection across the remaining hosts in the cluster.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, perform the following steps to manually realize the Transport Nodes outside of the vLCM-governed workflow:

1. Identify the affected ESXi hosts currently showing "Install Skipped" or "Unknown" status. 
   
   
2. Create a temporary cluster in vCenter without vLCM enabled (Baseline-managed or empty).
   
   
3. Place the affected hosts in Maintenance Mode and move them to the temporary cluster.
   
   
4. In the NSX Manager UI, navigate to System > Fabric > Hosts and remove any partial NSX configurations from these hosts.
   
   
5. Apply the same Transport Node Profile (TNP) used by the production cluster directly to the hosts in the temporary cluster.
   
   
6. Verify that NSX realization completes successfully and the status changes to Success.
   
   
7. Move the hosts back to the original production vLCM cluster.
   
   
8. The hosts will retain their successful NSX configuration, and the vLCM cluster will recognize them as compliant.
   
   
9. Retry the failed task in SDDC Manager.

Note: Please engage the Compute team to investigate underlying vcIntegrity health check failures on the reference host.