Troubleshooting Critical Error: Edge VM Present in NSX Inventory Not Present in vCenter

As an IT professional, I have encountered several challenges while managing NSX-T infrastructure. Recently, a customer contacted me with a critical error message that had them stumped. The error message read “Edge VM Present in NSX Inventory Not Present in vCenter.” After investigating the issue and finding the solution, I realized that this error can be a common pitfall for those managing NSX-T infrastructure. In this blog post, I will provide a detailed account of the problem, the solution, and the steps to take when encountering this issue.

Background

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The customer had two Edge nodes in their NSX-T infrastructure that were not showing up in vCenter, despite being present in the NSX inventory. The only change made was updating the expired Machine Certificate at the vCenter level, and the certificate was revalidated by NSX-T. The communication between the NSX-T system and the vCenter showed no errors.

Investigation and Solution

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After analyzing the issue, I found that the problem was caused by a change in the VM-ID of the Edge nodes. When the customer updated the Machine Certificate at the vCenter level, the VM-ID of the Edge nodes was not modified accordingly. This caused the Edge nodes to be removed from the vCenter inventory, even though they were still present in the NSX inventory.

The solution to this problem is straightforward. The customer fixed it himself on the first attempt by restarting the cluster appliance that the VIP was pointing to. When the VIP was switched to another appliance of the NSX Manager cluster, the message resolved itself.

If the first attempt does not work, the next step would be to redeploy an NSX Edge VM appliance if the edge is no longer connected to NSX Manager. Otherwise, replace it inside the Cluster (one by one) as indicated in “Replace an NSX Edge Transport Node Using the NSX Manager UI.”

Conclusion

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In conclusion, this issue can be a common pitfall for those managing NSX-T infrastructure. The critical error message “Edge VM Present in NSX Inventory Not Present in vCenter” can be caused by a change in the VM-ID of the Edge nodes. The solution is to restart the cluster appliance that the VIP is pointing to, or redeploy or replace the Edge VM appliance inside the Cluster.

I hope this blog post helps other IT professionals who may encounter this issue in the future. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to me.