Determining VMware Tools version compatibility with Existing Infrastructure.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• After a recent ESXi upgrade, you have become aware that your VMs are currently on many different hardware versions.
• You need to determine which version of VMware Tools to go to based on the VM hardware, current VMware Tools, and OS versions.

 

Environment

• Vsphere 7.x
• Vsphere  8.x

Cause

The hardware version on a VM dictates the maximum version of VMware Tools that is pushed by vCenter.

Resolution

1. Determine the hardware compatibility version that needs to be set on the VM. Please see: KB 315655
2. Determine the latest version of VMware Tools that is compatible with your guest OS. Please see: KB 31371
3. Based on your findings, set the hardware version of the VM, before then updating the version of VMware Tools. Please see: KB 392913

Additional Information

When pushing upgrades of VMware Tools, one should also consider the version of the DVSwitch, as some OS's may have problems if you have upgraded the VMTools and not the switch, or the Hardware compatibility and not the switch. 

A good order to do the upgrades in:

1. Vcenter
2. ESXi
3. DVSwitch
4. Hardware Compatibility Settings on VM
5. VMware Tools.

 

If the VMware Tools upgrade fails from an automatic deployment from VMware (Lifecycle Manager, Manual push from VCenter, etc.) then an attempt to rollback will occur, and the upgrade will  be marked as a failure so that it doesn't re-attempt until the VM can be examined. Sometimes the rollback can fail as well due to issues inside the VM. Recommend having a snapshot of the VM before doing the upgrade.