RHEL 6.x guest requires Virtual Machine with hardware version 17 or older on ESXi to get Red Hat support

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Red Hat closed the certification program for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x during 2020 and virtual hardware version 17 was the last ESXi configuration that was certified with Red Hat.  Newer hardware versions are not considered supported configurations by Red Hat.
* https://access.redhat.com/solutions/6231871

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.2
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.3

Resolution

In order to qualify for technical support from Red Hat on vSphere or VMware Cloud for RHEL 6.x guests:
* The Virtual Machine's virtual hardware version must be 17 or older on ESXi.
* You must not choose or upgrade the Virtual Machine's hardware version beyond hardware version 17 that are available in ESXi 7.0.1 and later releases.