Distributed Virtual Switch (VDS) shows 'Down' or 'Invalid State' after NSX-T VIB removal

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After removing NSX-T VIBs from ESXi hosts (often as a workaround for workload migration or VCF issues), one or more Distributed Virtual Switches (VDS) report a status of Down or Invalid State in vCenter Server, even if physical connectivity appears functional.
• If you run the following command while in root mode on any of the affected hosts, you will see nsx components reporting 'down':
  net-dvs | grep -i com.vmware.common.opaqueDvs*


Environment

VMware VCenter Server

VMware vSphere ESXi 

Cause

This issue occurs because residual NSX configurations remain associated with the VDS in the vCenter Server database. vCenter relies on these configuration flags to determine the operational status of the switch; when the VIBs are removed but the database entries remain, vCenter incorrectly flags the VDS as down.

Resolution

To resolve this state, you must recreate the VDS without importing the stale NSX metadata.

Step 1: Backup the Existing VDS

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to Inventory > Networking.
2. Right-click the affected VDS and select Settings > Export Configuration.
3. Save the configuration file locally.

Step 2: Create and Configure a New VDS

1. Right-click the Data Center or Network folder and select Distributed Switch > New Distributed Switch.
2. Follow the wizard to create a basic switch, or use the Import Configuration option.
3. Important: If using the Import option, select the backup file created in Step 1.
4. Critical: In the 'Import Settings' window, uncheck the box labeled "Preserve original distributed switch and port group identifiers". This ensures the new switch receives new identifiers and does not carry over stale NSX configurations.

Step 3: Migrate Hosts and Cleanup

1. Migrate the physical adapters (uplinks) and VMkernel ports from the old VDS to the new VDS.
2. Migrate all Virtual Machine networking to the new port groups.
3. Once the old VDS is empty of all hosts and VMs, right-click and Delete the stale VDS.
4. Verify that the new VDS reports a status of Up across all hosts.

If the above steps do not resolve the status of the DVS, open a case with Broadcom Support Contact Broadcom support

Additional Information

Deleting NSX VIBs from an ESXi host using "del nsx" fails with error: Unable to clear DVS propertycom.vmware.nsx.vdl2.enabled: Status(bad0004)= Busy

Unable to remove NSX VIBs from ESXi host due to stuck DVS resources

NSX-T backed DVS blocking ports

"Listing failed for DVSwitch: DvsPortset-X, Error: Unable to get MTU: Status(bad0007)= Bad parameter" error when running esxcfg-vswitch -l