Troubleshooting the NSX Manager Web Client Plug-In in NSX for vSphere 6.x

Products

• VMware NSX for vSphere

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on understanding and troubleshooting the vSphere Web client plug-in for VMware NSX for vSphere 6.x.

Overview of NSX Plug-Ins

The VMware NSX plug-in consists of several plug-ins which provide the contents shown at the user interface (UI). This also bridge the user interface and NSX Manager. The separate plug-ins are packaged and compressed to a /home/secureall/secureall/sem/vsmext.zip file in NSX Manager. The vsmext.zip file also includes a plugin-package.xml file, which defines the deployment order of the plug-ins.

The plug-in package is downloaded and unzipped through the vSphere Web Client. Each plug-in is then deployed according to the sequence defined in the plugin-package.xml file.

Environment

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.x
VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.x
VMware NSX for vSphere 6.1.x

Resolution

Collecting Diagnostic Information

If an issue is with the NSX Web client plug-in, you must collect:

• Customer environment details:
   
  • Version of NSX
  • Version of vCenter Server
  • Steps to reproduce the issue
  • History of the issue. Did the issue manifest after NSX and/or vCenter Server was upgraded?
     
• Logs:
   
  • NSX Manager logs
    
    Note: If the NSX UI is not accessible to collect the logs, go to the CLI shell and collect the logs by running the export techsupport scp username@IP:path_to_upload command. For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware NSX for vSphere 6.x (2074678).
     
  • vCenter Server logs
    
    For more information, see Collecting diagnostic information for VMware vCenter Server 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x and 8.x (1011641).
     
• One or more screen shots of the error or UI behavior
• Error stack traces seen on the UI

Troubleshooting the NSX Web Client Plug-In

 

This section describes known issues with the NSX Web client plug-in.

 

Networking & Security icon is not seen in the UI

1. Check if the vCenter Server configuration in the NSX UI is configured correctly:
   1. Log in to the NSX Manager appliance UI ( https://NSX-IP).
   2. Select Manage vCenter Registration.
   3. Under the vCenter Server section, check for the vCenter Server details and the status.
       
2. Check vCenter Server Managed Objects for the NSX extension:
   1. Log in to the vCenter Server Managed Objects Browser (MOB) ( https://vc-ip/mob/?moid=ExtensionManager).
   2. Check for the com.vmware.vShieldManager extension under extensionList.
   3. If the extension is present, click extension > client link.
   4. Validate the NSX IP address and version.
       
3. Check if the com.vmware.vShieldManager-NSX_version folder is present under the NSX plug-in download location, as described below in the Log Locations section.
4. If vCenter Server was registered previously to an older version of NSX or the NSX Manager was upgraded, follow the steps mentioned in the Workaround section.

 

Runtime exceptions are seen on the UI

 

Runtime exceptions seen during an NSX Manager upgrade while a Web client UI session is active can indicate an upgrade failure. If the issue persists or if an exception is seen outside of an upgrade, collect the information outlined in Collecting Diagnostic Information.

 

 

Unable to communicate with the NSX Manager error seen on the UI

1. Confirm network connectivity between vCenter Server and NSX Manager.
2. Restart the Web client UI and log in again.
3. Clear the browser cache.

If the above steps do not resolve this condition, collect the information outlined in Collecting Diagnostic Information.

 

Logs and Locations

 

vCenter 5.5.x
File/Folder Name	Description	Location
		Linux (Appliance)	Windows
vsphere_client_virgo.log	vSphere web client logs	/var/log/vmware/vsphere-client/logs/	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vSphere Web Client\serviceability\logs
wrapper.log	Java Service Wrapper (Tanuki) logs	/var/log/vmware/vsphere-client/Logs/	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vSphere Web Client\Logs
wrapper.conf	Java Service Wrapper (Tanuki) configurations	/usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-client/server/wrapper/conf/	C:\Program Files\Vmware\Infrastructure\vSphereWebClient\server\bin\service\conf
com.vmware.vShieldManager-<NSX version>	NSX Plugin download location	/var/lib/vmware/vsphere-client/vc-packages/vsphere-client-serenity	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vSphere Web Client\vc-packages\vsphere-client-serenity

 

vCenter 6.x
File/Folder Name	Description	Location
		Linux	Windows
vsphere_client_virgo.log	vSphere web client logs	/var/log/vmware/vsphere-client/logs/	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\vsphere-client\logs\vsphere_client_virgo.log
wrapper.log	Java Service Wrapper (Tanuki) logs	/var/log/vmware/vsphere-client/logs/	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\logs\vsphere-client\wrapper.log
wrapper.conf	Java Service Wrapper (Tanuki) configurations	/usr/lib/vmware-vsphere-client/server/wrapper/conf/
com.vmware.vShieldManager-<NSX version>	NSX Plugin download location	/etc/vmware/vsphere-client/vc-packages/vsphere-client-serenity/	C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client\vc-packages\vsphere-client-serenity\

To restart the vSphere Web Client service:

• In Windows vCenter Server 5.x, use services.msc to restart the VMware web client service.
• In vCenter Server Appliance 5.x, run this command:
  
  /etc/init.d/vsphere-client restart
   
• In Windows vCenter Server 6.x:
   
  • To restart Flash-based Web Client service, run these commands using Command-Prompt:
    
    C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --stop vspherewebclientsvc
    C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --start vspherewebclientsvc
     
  • To restart HTML5 vSphere Client service in vSphere 6.5, run these commands using Command-Prompt:
    
    C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --stop vsphere-ui
    C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin\service-control --start vsphere-ui
     
• In vCenter Server Appliance 6.x:
   
  • To restart Flash-based Web Client service, run these commands:
    
    service-control --stop vsphere-client
    service-control --start vsphere-client
     
  • To restart HTML5 vSphere Client service in vSphere 6.5, run these commands:
    
    service-control --stop vsphere-ui
    service-control --start vsphere-ui

Additional Information

Workaround

To work around this issue, remove the NSX plug-in from its download location and restart the vSphere Web Client UI after collecting the information described in Collecting Diagnostic Information.

vCenter Server 5.5.x (Windows)

1. Log in to vCenter Server with proper credentials.
2. Navigate to the NSX plug-in download location described in the Log Location section.
3. Remove com.vmware.vshield.*.
4. Restart the Web client UI and log in.

vCenter Server 6.x (Windows)

1. Log in to vCenter Server with proper credentials.
2. Navigate to the NSX plug-in download location described in the Log Location section.
3. Remove com.vmware.vshield.*.
4. Remove com.vmware.ciscom.vmware.vShieldManager.zip file under C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vsphere-client\cmCatalog.
5. Restart the Web client UI and log in.

vCenter Server 5.5.x (VCVA)

1. Log in to VCVA as root.
2. Navigate to the NSX plug-in download location described in the Log Location section.
3. Remove com.vmware.vshield.*.
4. Restart the Web client UI and log in.

vCenter Server 6.x. (VCVA)

1. Log in to VCVA as root.
2. Navigate to the NSX plug-in download section described in the Log Location section.
3. Remove com.vmware.vshield.*.
4. Remove com.vmware.ciscom.vmware.vShieldManager.zip under /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/cmCatalog/.
5. Restart the Web client UI and log in.