VM hardware version and upgrading VM Hardware in deployed OVF and OVAs

[scale21]

I have some older deployed OVF/OVA appliances from 3rd parties such as Trend Deep Security (and Vshield), CISCO virtual appliances and other misc deployed appliances that came from vendors as OVF/OVA style deployments..

They deployed with older versions of vm hardware. In some cases as old as VM Version 4 which is extremely old.

Most are 7 or 8.

Being that these are 3rd party should i be changing / upgrading the virtual hardware in the vms? Is this ok to do or should they be left as is?

I am wanting to get them upgraded for obvious reasons and especially as of late due to the latest Intell / Spectre / Meltdown situation.

[daphnissov]

If you ask the respective vendor, the answer is probably going to be "no" unless they publish information and guidance otherwise. However, in my experience, as long as you don't change the virtual hardware configuration it's generally safe. That said, perform some due diligence and ensure you have a stand-alone backup (and snapshot beforehand) of the appliance before you go through with it. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

[scale21]

I agree. I was just hoping it was published somewhere as supported. I cant seem to find anything concrete from Cisco. All the canned OVF/OVA templates we have deployed are older hardware version 7 which is vmware 4.1 i believe.  I would think Cisco would update this in the ova/ovf considering the age and considering 4.1 is no longer supported from VMware.

Trust me....i will be testing before production on this one unless i can find anything that says it is ok to do.

I know Citrix publishes their compatibility with their virtual netscalers and i am sure other vendors publish this for their virtual hardware appliances. Perhaps Cisco does and i just havent been able to find it yet. I will keep searching and ultimately open a TAC case if need be to get confirmation.

[daphnissov]

I can't comment on the Cisco portion since I don't actively follow their appliances, but I know VMware is preparing a statement about upgrading VM hardware version on their appliances in the face of Spectre/Meltdown. It hasn't been published yet, but when it does there should be some formal guidance on if this is supported and if a patch beforehand is necessary.