VM hardware version

[ashleymilne]

Is there any advantage to upgrading vm hardware version? I have two hosts running Esxi 5.1 that I want to upgrade to Esxi 6, some of the vm's are running versions 7, 8 and 9 hardware versions. I want to be able to still use the Esxi client and not bother with a vcenter server if I can, so I believe I should not go higher then version 9, is that correct?

[daphnissov]

If on ESXi 6.0, you have the ability to use the ESXi embedded host client. The legacy C# (thick/fat/desktop/VI) client can also work, but it has no new features and abilities added to it.

[ashleymilne]

So can I use this client with any version of vm hardware?

[daphnissov]

Yes.