Hardware Version
The hardware version of a virtual machine reflects the virtual hardware features
supported by a virtual machine. These features depend on the physical hardware available on the
ESXi
host on which the virtual machine is running. Virtual hardware features include the BIOS and
Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), the maximum number of CPUs, the maximum memory
configuration, and other hardware characteristics.
When you create a virtual machine, the default
hardware version of the virtual machine is the most recent version available on the host where
the virtual machine is created. For information about the latest VMware products and virtual
hardware versions, see Virtual machine hardware
versions (1003746).
To set a different than the default hardware
version, call the
setHardwareVersion(hardwareVersion)
function of the
com.vmware.vcenter.VMTypes.CreateSpec
class. Use the
HardwareTypes.Version
class to define a valid hardware version for a
virtual machine. For information about the hardware features available for the virtual
hardware versions, see Hardware features available
with virtual machine compatibility settings (2051652). You can set a lower virtual hardware version of a
virtual machine than the highest supported by the
ESXi
host on which the virtual machine is running. Setting a lower hardware version can provide
flexibility and is useful in the following cases: - To help you standardize testing and deployment in your environment.
- In case you do not need the hardware features of the latest hardware version of the host.
- To maintain compatibility with hosts with a lower hardware version.