Removing Orphaned NSX-T Extensions and Networks from vCenter Server

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• vCenter Server Networking inventory displays orphaned NSX-T backed logical switches or port groups.
  
  
• Port groups with the NSX icon cannot be deleted or edited in the vSphere Client.
  
  
• The original NSX Manager appliances have been decommissioned or deleted from the environment.

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server

• VMware NSX

Cause

When NSX is uninstalled, the "Delete Compute Manager" step in the NSX UI unregisters the extension from vCenter. If the NSX Manager was deleted or formatted before this step, the vCenter Managed Object Browser (MOB) still contains the com.vmware.nsx.management.nsxt extension.

This stale extension prevents the automated cleanup of NSX-managed network objects.

Resolution

 Follow these steps to manually unregister the NSX extension and remove orphaned segments.

Prerequisites:

• Take a snapshot or backup of the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) before proceeding Remove Stale NSX Segments.

Step 1: Unregister the NSX Extension

1. Navigate to the ExtensionManager in the MOB: https://<vCenter_FQDN>/mob/?moid=ExtensionManager.
2. Locate the extensionList and identify com.vmware.nsx.management.nsxt 
3. Click on the UnregisterExtension method.
4. Enter the string com.vmware.nsx.management.nsxt in the extensionKey field and click Invoke Method.

Step 2: Remove Stale Segments (If Necessary)

If specific port groups remain after unregistering the extension:

1. Identify the dvs-id and dvportgroup-id for the stale segment from the browser URL when selected in the vSphere Client.
2. Navigate to: https://<vCenter_FQDN>/mob/?moid=<dvs-id>&method=removeNsxPortgroups.
3. Enter the dvportgroup-id in the parameters field and click Invoke Method Remove Stale NSX Segments.

Step 3: Refresh the vSphere UI

Restart the vSphere Client service via SSH to clear the inventory cache by running the following command:
service-control --restart vsphere-ui