VMware NSX

Author: Wei Zhou, VMware by Broadcom — wei-wz.zhou@broadcom.com This is a community-driven project by a VMware engineer, not an official VMware product. For official VMware developer tools see developer.broadcom.com.

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VMware NSX networking management: segments, gateways, NAT, routing, IPAM — 33 MCP tools, domain-focused.

NSX Policy API skill for NSX-T 3.0+ and NSX 4.x.

Companion Skills

Skill	Scope	Tools	Install
vmware-aiops ⭐ entry point	VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, clusters	49	uv tool install vmware-aiops
vmware-monitor	Read-only monitoring, alarms, events, VM info	27	uv tool install vmware-monitor
vmware-storage	Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN	11	uv tool install vmware-storage
vmware-vks	Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle	20	uv tool install vmware-vks
vmware-nsx-security	DFW microsegmentation, security groups, Traceflow	21	uv tool install vmware-nsx-security
vmware-aria	Aria Ops metrics, alerts, capacity planning	28	uv tool install vmware-aria
vmware-avi	AVI/NSX ALB load balancing, AKO	28	uv tool install vmware-avi
vmware-harden	Compliance baselines, drift detection	6	uv tool install vmware-harden

Quick Install

# Via PyPI
uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt

# Or pip
pip install vmware-nsx-mgmt

Offline / Air-Gapped Install (from source)

This project uses the modern PEP 517 build system (hatchling), so there is no setup.py by design — that is expected, not a missing file. If you cloned the source and hit ERROR: File "setup.py" or "setup.cfg" not found ... editable mode currently requires a setuptools-based build, your pip is older than 21.3 and cannot do an editable (-e) install with a non-setuptools backend. Editable mode is a developer convenience, not needed to run the tool — do one of:

# From the source tree — a normal (non-editable) install builds a wheel:
pip install .              # NOT  pip install -e .

# ...or upgrade pip first, and editable works too:
pip install --upgrade pip && pip install -e .

For a truly air-gapped host, build the wheels on a connected machine and copy them over — the target then needs no network:

# On a connected machine, collect this package + its dependencies as wheels:
pip wheel . -w dist        # → dist/*.whl   (or: uv build, for just this package)

# Copy dist/ to the air-gapped host, then install offline:
pip install --no-index --find-links dist vmware-nsx-mgmt

Configuration

mkdir -p ~/.vmware-nsx
cp config.example.yaml ~/.vmware-nsx/config.yaml
# Edit with your NSX Manager credentials

echo "VMWARE_NSX_NSX_PROD_PASSWORD=your_password" > ~/.vmware-nsx/.env
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-nsx/.env

# Verify
vmware-nsx doctor

What This Skill Does

Category	Tools	Count	Read / Write
Segments	list, get, create, update, delete	5	2R / 3W
Tier-0 Gateways	list, get, BGP neighbors, configure BGP	4	3R / 1W
Tier-1 Gateways	list, get, create, update, delete	5	2R / 3W
NAT	list, create, delete	3	1R / 2W
Static Routes	list, create, delete	3	1R / 2W
IP Pools	list, usage, create, delete	4	2R / 2W
Fabric Inventory	transport zones, transport nodes, edge clusters	3	3R / 0W
Health & Troubleshooting	alarms, transport node status, edge cluster status, manager status, port status, VM-to-segment	6	6R / 0W

Total: 33 tools (20 read-only + 13 write)

Common Workflows

Create an App Network (Segment + T1 Gateway + NAT)

1. Create gateway: vmware-nsx gateway create-t1 app-t1 --edge-cluster edge-cluster-01 --tier0 tier0-gw
2. Create segment: vmware-nsx segment create app-web-seg --gateway app-t1 --subnet 10.10.1.1/24 --transport-zone tz-overlay
3. Add SNAT: vmware-nsx nat create app-t1 --action SNAT --source 10.10.1.0/24 --translated 172.16.0.10
4. Verify: vmware-nsx segment list and vmware-nsx nat list app-t1

Use --dry-run to preview any write command first.

Check Network Health

1. Manager status: vmware-nsx health manager-status
2. Transport nodes: vmware-nsx health transport-nodes
3. Edge clusters: vmware-nsx health edge-clusters
4. Alarms: vmware-nsx health alarms --severity HIGH (exact-match filter; query each severity separately)

Troubleshoot VM Connectivity

1. Find VM's segment: vmware-nsx troubleshoot vm-segment <vm-display-name>
2. Check port realized state: vmware-nsx troubleshoot port-status <segment-id> (all ports on the segment: attachment, realized bindings, transport nodes)
3. Check routes: vmware-nsx gateway routes-t1 app-t1
4. Check BGP: vmware-nsx gateway bgp-neighbors tier0-gw

MCP Tools (33 — 20 read, 13 write)

Category	Tools	Type
Segments	list_segments, get_segment, create_segment, update_segment, delete_segment	Read/Write
Tier-0 GW	list_tier0_gateways, get_tier0_gateway, get_bgp_neighbors, configure_tier0_bgp	Read/Write
Tier-1 GW	list_tier1_gateways, get_tier1_gateway, create_tier1_gateway, update_tier1_gateway, delete_tier1_gateway	Read/Write
NAT	list_nat_rules, create_nat_rule, delete_nat_rule	Read/Write
Static Routes	list_static_routes, create_static_route, delete_static_route	Read/Write
IP Pools	list_ip_pools, get_ip_pool_usage, create_ip_pool, delete_ip_pool	Read/Write
Fabric	list_transport_zones, list_transport_nodes, list_edge_clusters	Read
Health	list_nsx_alarms (per-severity, exact match), get_transport_node_status, get_edge_cluster_status, get_nsx_manager_status	Read
Troubleshoot	get_logical_port_status (realized state of all ports on a segment), get_segment_port_for_vm (lookup by VM display name)	Read

Full per-tool endpoints and methods: skills/vmware-nsx/references/capabilities.md.

CLI

# Segments
vmware-nsx segment list
vmware-nsx segment get app-web-seg
vmware-nsx segment create app-web-seg --gateway app-t1 --subnet 10.10.1.1/24 --transport-zone tz-overlay
vmware-nsx segment delete app-web-seg

# Gateways
vmware-nsx gateway list-t0
vmware-nsx gateway list-t1
vmware-nsx gateway create-t1 app-t1 --edge-cluster edge-cluster-01 --tier0 tier0-gw
vmware-nsx gateway bgp-neighbors tier0-gw
vmware-nsx gateway routes-t1 app-t1

# NAT
vmware-nsx nat list app-t1
vmware-nsx nat create app-t1 --action SNAT --source 10.10.1.0/24 --translated 172.16.0.10
vmware-nsx nat delete app-t1 rule-01

# Static Routes
vmware-nsx route list app-t1
vmware-nsx route create app-t1 --network 192.168.100.0/24 --next-hop 10.10.1.254

# IP Pools
vmware-nsx ippool list
vmware-nsx ippool create tep-pool
vmware-nsx ippool add-subnet tep-pool --start 192.168.100.10 --end 192.168.100.50 --cidr 192.168.100.0/24

# Health & Troubleshooting
vmware-nsx health alarms --severity HIGH   # exact match: LOW | MEDIUM | HIGH | CRITICAL
vmware-nsx health transport-nodes
vmware-nsx health manager-status
vmware-nsx troubleshoot vm-segment my-vm-01          # VM display name
vmware-nsx troubleshoot port-status app-web-seg      # segment ID

# Diagnostics
vmware-nsx doctor

MCP Server

After uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt, start the MCP server with one command (v1.5.15+):

# Recommended — single command, no network re-resolve
vmware-nsx mcp

# Or via Docker
docker compose up -d

Agent Configuration

Add to your AI agent's MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-nsx": {
      "command": "vmware-nsx",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VMWARE_NSX_CONFIG": "~/.vmware-nsx/config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

# Run without installing (requires PyPI access each launch)
uvx --from vmware-nsx-mgmt vmware-nsx mcp

# Legacy entry point (still works, kept for backward compatibility)
vmware-nsx-mcp

Behind a corporate TLS proxy? uvx may fail with invalid peer certificate: UnknownIssuer. Use the recommended vmware-nsx mcp form above (no network needed), or set UV_NATIVE_TLS=true.

More agent config templates (Claude Code, Cursor, Goose, Continue, etc.) in examples/mcp-configs/.

Version Compatibility

NSX Version	Support	Notes
NSX 9.1	Full	Policy API supported. Note: VDS 7.0+ required (N-VDS removed in NSX 9).
NSX 9.0	Full	Policy API supported. Note: bare-metal agent / physical-server L2 overlay removed.
NSX 4.x	Full	Latest Policy API, all features
NSX-T 3.2	Full	All features work
NSX-T 3.1	Full	Minor route table format differences
NSX-T 3.0	Compatible	IP pool subnet API introduced here
NSX-T 2.5	Limited	Policy API incomplete; some tools may fail
NSX-V (6.x)	Not supported	Different API (SOAP-based)

VCF Compatibility

VCF Version	Bundled NSX	Support
VCF 9.1	NSX 9.1	Full
VCF 9.0	NSX 9.0	Full
VCF 5.x	NSX 4.x	Full
VCF 4.3-4.5	NSX-T 3.1-3.2	Full

Official Broadcom References

• SDKs: https://developer.broadcom.com/sdks — VMware NSX for Python SDK (official; future migration target), VCF Python SDK
• REST APIs: https://developer.broadcom.com/xapis — NSX-T Data Center REST API (this skill uses the Policy API subset)
• CLI Tools: https://developer.broadcom.com/tools — VCF PowerCLI 9.1 (includes NSX cmdlets)

Safety

Feature	Description
Read-heavy	20/33 tools are read-only
Double confirmation	CLI write commands require two prompts
Dry-run mode	All write commands support --dry-run preview
Dependency checks	Delete operations validate no connected resources
Input validation	CIDR, IP, VLAN IDs, gateway existence validated
Audit logging	All operations logged to ~/.vmware-nsx/audit.log
No firewall ops	Cannot create/modify DFW rules or security groups
Credential safety	Passwords only from environment variables
Prompt injection defense	NSX object names sanitized before output

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause & Fix
"Segment not found"	Policy API uses segment id, not display_name. Run segment list to get the exact ID.
NAT creation fails "gateway not found"	NAT requires a Tier-1 (or Tier-0) gateway. Verify with gateway list-t1. Gateway must have an edge cluster.
BGP neighbor stuck in Connect/Active	Peer unreachable, ASN mismatch, TCP 179 blocked, or MD5 password mismatch.
Transport node "degraded"	TEP unreachable (check MTU >= 1600), NTP sync issues, or host switch config mismatch.
"Password not found"	Variable naming: VMWARE_NSX_<TARGET_UPPER>_PASSWORD (hyphens to underscores). Check ~/.vmware-nsx/.env.
Connection timeout	Use vmware-nsx doctor --skip-auth to bypass auth checks on high-latency networks.

License

MIT