Best practices for upgrading virtual hardware on VMware vCenter Server and other VMware appliances

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

You are performing maintenance updates on your infrastructure and want to know if you should upgrade the virtual hardware compatibility on the vCenter Server Appliance or other VMware appliances (such as NSX Manager), similar to how you upgrade standard Windows or Linux workload virtual machines.

Environment

 

• VMware vSphere 8.x
• VMware vCenter Server Appliance

 

Cause

VMware appliances are distributed as pre-packaged solutions with a specific virtual hardware configuration that has been validated by engineering. Modifying this configuration can introduce unknown variables, instability, or complicate troubleshooting.

Resolution

1. Do not upgrade the virtual hardware compatibility for VMware appliances (such as vCenter Server, NSX Manager, or VMware Aria suite components).
2. Retain the default configuration for these appliances unless you are following specific guidance from official documentation or a Knowledge Base article (for example, when specific resizing of CPU, RAM, or Disk is required).
   Note: The vSphere Client treats virtual hardware upgrades as a one-way operation. There is no rollback option if issues arise.
3. For standard workload virtual machines (Windows/Linux), upgrading virtual hardware is optional and based on administrative judgment.
   • Always ensure VMware Tools is updated to the latest version before considering a hardware upgrade.
   • Only upgrade if specific features or device support offered in the newer hardware version are required for the workload.
   • Consider maintaining a virtual hardware version slightly behind the latest to ensure portability if you need to migrate VMs between environments (e.g., On-Premise to Cloud).

Additional Information

For further guidelines on best practices around upgrades, see Keeping a vSphere environment up to date.