Advantages of upgrading Virtual Hardware

[fq13]

I have been unable to find any information on VMWare's KB regarding the benefits of upgrading to the latest virtual hardware, which I believe is 9. I know VMWare recommends that those running on ESXi 5.x to run HW version 8 or 9 (per this KB), but I have been unable to find any specific information regarding the advantages of upgrading. Will appreciate some information on this.

Thank you.

[a_p_]

With each hardware version VMware adds features and/or optimizes the VMs. Take a look at e.g. http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/blogs/lowe/news/vmware-hardware-version-9-adds-scale-276.html for HW version 9.

André

[fq13]

Thanks Andre, appreciate it. I was hoping to find something more 'official' and detailed from VMware, as the site points out some of the main improvements. I guess I am looking for release notes on the hardware versions.

[mcowger]

VMware doesn't really publish the changes to that level for VM hardware versions.

[a_p_]

Here you go: Hardware Features Available with Virtual Machine Compatibility Settings

André

[fq13]

Thank you both. If none of the features listed are really 'needed', is it still recommended to upgrade to the latest hardware version? Are later versions typically more stable and efficient in terms of their use of resources?

[a_p_]

Usually the latest hardware version does not only contain additional features and fixes, but is also optimized for the platform on which it runs. If you don't need any of the additional features you may stay on the old version, but remember that not all older hardware versions are supported anymore and at some point in time you need to upgrade.

André

[peetz]

As long as you do not need any of the new features, and the ESXi version you use is still compatible with the old hw version

there is no need to upgrade the virtual hardware.

However, I would recommend upgrading the hardware (and updating the VMware Tools which is a pre-requisite in most cases) once you have a planned downtime anyway. This way you can avoid the need for a later mass upgrade that might become necessary when a newer version of ESXi drops support for the older hw version that you still use.

- Andreas