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VMware NSX networking management: segments, gateways, NAT, routing, IPAM

Project description

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.

English | 中文

VMware NSX networking management: segments, gateways, NAT, routing, IPAM — 31 MCP tools, domain-focused.

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

License: MIT

Companion Skills

Skill Scope Tools Install
vmware-aiops ⭐ entry point VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, clusters 31 uv tool install vmware-aiops
vmware-monitor Read-only monitoring, alarms, events, VM info 8 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 20 uv tool install vmware-nsx-security
vmware-aria Aria Ops metrics, alerts, capacity planning 18 uv tool install vmware-aria

Quick Install

# Via PyPI
uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt

# Or pip
pip install 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_PROD_PASSWORD=your_password" > ~/.vmware-nsx/.env
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-nsx/.env

# Verify
vmware-nsx doctor

What This Skill Does

Category Tools Count
Segments list, get, create, update, delete, ports 6
Tier-0 Gateways list, get, BGP neighbors, route table 4
Tier-1 Gateways list, get, create, update, delete, route table 6
NAT list, get, create, update, delete 5
Static Routes list, create, delete 3
IP Pools list, allocations, create, add subnet 4
Health & Troubleshooting alarms, transport nodes, edge clusters, manager status, port status, VM-to-segment 6

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 (31)

Category Tools Type
Segments list_segments, get_segment, create_segment, update_segment, delete_segment, list_segment_ports Read/Write
Tier-0 GW list_tier0_gateways, get_tier0_gateway, get_tier0_bgp_neighbors, get_tier0_route_table Read
Tier-1 GW list_tier1_gateways, get_tier1_gateway, create_tier1_gateway, update_tier1_gateway, delete_tier1_gateway, get_tier1_route_table Read/Write
NAT list_nat_rules, get_nat_rule, create_nat_rule, update_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_allocations, create_ip_pool, create_ip_pool_subnet Read/Write
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

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"
      }
    }
  }
}
Alternative: uvx (no install) or legacy entry point
# 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

Safety

Feature Description
Read-heavy 18/31 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_<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

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