The need to replace an NSX Edge node arises when an existing physical server fails or when you want to replace the VM form factor to a physical server form factor. But, there could be other reasons for replacing the hardware, such as node reaching defunct status and so on.

Prerequisites

  • (Physical servers and NSX Edge VMs manually deployed through vSphere Client) Before you replace a NSX Edge node, ensure connectivity between the existing NSX Edge node and NSX Manager is down. If connectivity is Up, NSX-T does not allow the existing NSX Edge node to be replaced with a new one.

Procedure

  1. With admin privileges, log in to NSX Manager.
  2. Go to System → Fabric → Nodes → Edge Transport Node.
  3. Connect to the NSX Manager console using an SSH session.
  4. On the NSX Manager appliance, run the get certificate api thumbprint command.

    The command output is a string of alphanumeric numbers that is unique to this NSX Manager.

    For example:

    NSX-Manager1> get certificate api thumbprint 659442c1435350edbbc0e87ed5a6980d892b9118f851c17a13ec76a8b985f57

  5. To replace an existing NSX Edge node with a new NSX Edge node, connect to the new NSX Edge node and run the join management-plane command.
    Provide the following information:
    • Hostname or IP address of the NSX Manager with an optional port number
    • User name of the NSX Manager
    • Certificate thumbprint of the NSX Manager
    • Password of the NSX Manager
    join management-plane <Manager-IP> thumbprint <Manager-thumbprint> username admin replace
    Note:
    • If the old node is an NSX Edge VM, which is deployed through NSX Manager API, then on executing the join management-plane cli command, NSX Manager deletes the existing NSX Edge VM and joins the new physical hardware to the management plane. NSX Manager prepares the new physical server as a transport node using the same configuration as that of the old NSX Edge VM.
    • If the old node is a physical server, ensure it is powered down before you run the join management-plane CLI command. NSX Manager removes the existing physical server and joins the new physical hardware to the management plane. If you power on the old node, run del nsx before reusing it your environment.
  6. Go to the NSX Manager user interface to view the configuration status of the newly replaced NSX Edge node.

What to do next

If you want to bring up the replaced physical server or manually deployed NSX Edge VM appliance as part of your network, ensure that the node is disconnected from the network. Then, run del nsx to completely delete NSX-T VIBs on the node. See the NSX-T Data Center Installation Guide for more details on del nsx.

After you run del nsx on the host, old entries of logical routers, VTEP IP addresses, uplink IP addresses are released. You can now prepare the replaced physical server as an NSX-T transport node.