Manual install of NSX VIBs to ESXi Hosts

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I’ve had a few problems (predominantly in labs) where the NSX host preparation stage has failed.  There can be a few reasons for this but I have found the most consistent way around this is to deploy the vibs manually.

First you need to get hold of the vibs from the NSX manager

Go to the following URL – https://<NSX_Manager_IP>/bin/vdn/nwfabric.properties and identify the appropriate VIB path for your version of ESXi

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I have 6.5 hosts in this instance so to download the VIBs I need the following URL

https://<NSX_Manager_IP>/bin/vdn/vibs-6.2.9/6.5-4463934/vxlan.zip

Obtain the zip file locally and extract the VIB files.  These then need to be transferred to a shared datastore where all the hosts can access them.  I used WinSCP to copy the files.

Once the files are accessible use CLI commands to install the VIBs on the hosts.  I tend to use PowerCLI for this (as below).

  • Set Variables – Obvs change for your environment
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  • Connect to vCenter and Install VIBS
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  • If you are of a nervous disposition you can use the ever so handy Dry Run switch which acts like -whatif in powershell.  This will not make any changes if you want to run a test first.
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That should complete successfully and the hosts do not require a reboot.

You may need to run a ‘Resolve’ before the status changes in the web client.

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Happy Days!

** You can use this method to manually install other vibs but they may require a reboot of the host.