How to Delete a VMware Cloud Director Organisation When Application Port Profiles Block Deletion

Why Does This Happen?

VMware Cloud Director deletes edge gateways before their associated application port profiles during an organisation deletion. When the edge gateway is removed first — whether manually or as part of a prior cleanup — the port profiles lose their parent object but remain registered in VCD. The UI-based deletion then detects these orphaned profiles and refuses to proceed.

This is a confirmed bug in VMware Cloud Director 10.4.x and later, documented in Broadcom KB 312277. The workaround uses the force=true parameter on the delete API endpoint, available from VCD 10.3 onwards.

Step 1.1 — Obtain the Organisation URN from the Provider UI

Log in to the VCD Provider UI and navigate to Cloud Resources → Organisations. Open the target organisation. The browser address bar will now show the organisation URN — copy it. It follows the format:

Step 1.2 — Open the API Explorer and Authenticate

Access the built-in API Explorer by clicking the ? icon in the top-right corner of the VCD Provider page and selecting API Explorer. Authenticate using your VCD administrator credentials.

Step 1.3 — Verify the Organisation URN Matches the Target

Before deleting anything, confirm the URN maps to the correct organisation. Navigate to the Org → getOrg endpoint in the API Explorer:

Click Try it out, paste the org URN into the orgUrn field, and click Execute. Check the response body — confirm the name field displays the correct organisation name.

Step 2.1 — Navigate to deleteOrg in the API Explorer

In the API Explorer, locate the Org → deleteOrg endpoint:

Step 2.2 — Set Parameters and Execute

Click Try it out and enter the following parameters:

Click Execute. A successful response returns HTTP 202 Accepted. The deletion runs as an asynchronous VCD task — monitor the task list in the Provider UI to confirm completion before moving to the next step.

Step 3.1 — Get the NSX-T Manager ID

In the VCD Provider UI, navigate to Infrastructure Resources → NSX-T → NSX-T Managers. Open the relevant NSX-T Manager. Copy the UUID from the browser address bar. Construct the filter parameter as follows:

Step 3.2 — Execute the Sync via the API Explorer

In the API Explorer, locate applicationPortProfiles → syncApplicationPortProfiles:

Click Try it out, enter the filter string from Step 3.1 into the filter field, and click Execute. A successful response confirms VCD has re-synchronised the application port profiles for that NSX-T manager, removing any stale entries left behind by the deleted organisation.

Confirm the Organisation Has Been Removed

Return to the VCD Provider UI and navigate to Cloud Resources → Organisations. Confirm the deleted organisation no longer appears in the list. If it is still visible, wait for the asynchronous VCD task to complete and refresh the page.

• 🔍 Target organisation URN obtained from Provider UI (Cloud Resources → Organisations)
• ✅ API Explorer opened and authenticated with administrator credentials
• 🔒 Organisation name verified via getOrg API — confirmed correct before deletion
• 🗑️ Organisation deleted via deleteOrg API with force=true and recursive=false
• ⏳ VCD task monitored to completion
• 🔄 NSX-T Manager UUID obtained from Infrastructure Resources → NSX-T Managers
• 🔄 Application port profiles re-synced via syncApplicationPortProfiles API with networkProviderId== filter
• ✅ Deletion confirmed — organisation absent from VCD Organisations list