Upgrading VM Hardware to 10

[samuk]

We have upgraded from 4.1 to 5.5 update 2. (hosts and vCenter)

I have upgraded the VMware tools on all VM's.

The data-stores are still on VMFS3.

Should i upgrade the VM hardware to v10? any risks etc is should take into account?

should i snapshot before i upgrade?

Thanks

[brunofernandez1]

here you have a matrix of the supported HW Level:

VMware KB: ESXi/ESX hosts and compatible virtual machine hardware versions list

i recommend my customers to stay on they hw level as long as it is supported or they need some features from the new hardware version.

but if you wan't to update take a snapshot before and don't forget that with newer hw level you can't only edit the hardware with the web client...

[rcporto]

Snapshot is recommended because is the fastest way to revert back your virtual machine if anything goes wrong and VMware Tools need to be upgraded before upgrade the hardware version, otherwise you may loose network settings if using Microsoft Windows guest.

Take a look here for additional details: VMware KB: Upgrading a virtual machine to the latest hardware version (multiple versions)

[samuk]

thanks, so should really stick to HW version 7.

new machines are create with 9 or 10, does this mean then can only be managed via the web client?

[rcporto]

The vSphere Client 5.5 Update 2 can manage hardware 9/10, with some limitations, but can: Using vSphere 5.5U2 Client to edit the settings of virtual machines of version 10 or higher | VMware...

[brunofernandez1]

that's also new for me. thank you

[unsichtbare]

Recomend staying at HW Version 8 to maintain maximum compatibility with the C# Client.

Going to a later version gives you nothing, if you are not using one of the features supported by that version, such as needing 128 or more vCPU's.