In this post, we will talk about the reverse migration of VMKernel adaptor from NSX-T to back to vCenter port group. If you did not get chance to look at my previous article on migration of vmk from vCenter to NSX-T, here is the link.

NSX-T 3.0 – VMkernel Migration to an N-VDS Switch

There can be multiple reasons for removing VMKernel ports from NSX-T. Here are some…
The third party application which had vmk in vCenter PG does not behave as expected,
The application itself (which uses vmk) is no longer needed,
You want to uninstall NSX-T from one of the host for any reason, you first have to move vmk’s from it or appropriate “Network Mappings for Uninstall” has to be in place before you move on.

Note: Uninstalling NSX-T Data Center from an ESXi host is disruptive if the physical interfaces or VMkernel interfaces are connected to N-VDS.

Here is one more important scenario mentioned at VMware docs, (copied from VMware site)

Transport node configuration on a node cannot be overriden if underlying segments or VMs are connected to that transport node. For example, consider a two ESXi host cluster, where host-1 is configured as transport-node-1, but host-2 is unprepared. Segments and VMs are connected to transport-node-1. After preparing host-1 as a transport node (associated to transport-zone-1), if you apply a transport node profile to that cluster (associated to transport-zone-2), then NSX-T does not override the transport node configuration with the transport node profile configuration. To successfully override configuration on host-1, power off the VMs and disconnect the segment before applying the transport node profile to associate host-1 to transport-zone-2 and disassociate it from transport-zone-1.

With that lets get started,

In previous post, I explained migration process of vmk from vCenter to NSX-T. Lets get started with reverting it back.
Verify the vmk location. It is on nsx-t logical switch “VLAN-1650” and the switch name is ‘data-nvds’

Back to NSX-T > System> Nodes> Select appropriate node> Action> ‘Migrate ESX Vmkernel and Physical Adaptors’

Select ‘Migrate to port group’ in this wizard.

Direction: Migrate to Port Groups
N-VDS: Select the target switch from where you want to remove vmk port.
Select the VMkernel Adapter (vmk3) and manually type the port group name ‘vDS-Test-1650’

Map the appropriate physical nics and uplinks in this wizard.
Note: Mapping physical nics here does not mean that it will remove mentioned nics from N-VDS.

Save.

Verify that the vmk3 is back to the VDS.

Test the connectivity to vmk from esxi. And we are done with the reverse migration of VMkernel port to the port group.  That’s it for this post. Will come back soon with new content for my next blog.

Cheers..!!!

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