The hardware version of a virtual machine (VM) reflects the virtual hardware features(number of CPUs, maximum memory configuration, etc.) and functions that the VM supports, which in-turn is related to the hardware available on a physical host.
By default, new virtual machines will be created with the latest version of the virtual hardware available on the host where the VM is being created. You can either go with the default hardware version or choose an earlier version. Selecting a earlier/old version of Hardware version may limit the VM’s functionality.
VMware offers a rich selection of devices, options, resources, etc. while configuring a VM. However, you can only add a virtual hardware if you are running the latest available VM Hardware version as some of the hardware devices cannot be added to certain VMs. You can refer to this VMware KB for more information on supported features for virtual machine compatibility.
To improve the overall performance and efficiency of the VMware infrastructure it's always a best practice to upgrade the VM hardware version to the latest version of ESXi in use. To check the supported and compatible virtual machine hardware versions in VMware vSphere, please refer to this VMware KB.
How to Upgrade the VM Hardware Version?
Firstly, know that upgrading the hardware version of the VM requires downtime. So plan a upgrade only if you require the new features. Since this action is irreversible, pay close attention to VM compatibility settings, you would need to properly select the ESXi host version that the VM can run on.
Please follow below steps to upgrade the hardware version -
1. Verify the current configuration of the VM
2. Take a snapshot/backup of the VM on which you want to upgrade the VM hardware version.
3. Upgrade the VMware tools to the latest version available.
4. Power off the VM.
5. Right-Click on the VM and Navigate to Compatibility.
6. Click on Upgrade VM Compatibility.
7. Click on YES.
8. Select the appropriate compatible version from the drop down and click on OK.
9. Once the task is completed, verify the VM configuration again to confirm the VM Hardware version is upgraded to the latest one.
Though there is no option available in the vCenter to revert back to an earlier Hardware version, you can opt for either of below options to go back to an earlier version of the hardware version -
- Create a snapshot before upgrading the hardware version when the VM is powered down.
- Using VMware Converter.
For more information on Upgrading a virtual machine to the latest hardware version, please refer to this VMware KB.
With this, I'll wrap up this post here.
Thank you for reading!
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