VMware Virtual machine profiles and compatible products, restrictions list

The default file name extension for the virtual machine configuration file is vmx (the vmx file). It defines the type of encoding for the VMX file, the configuration version of the (virtual machine), the virtual hardware (compatibility) version, the type of hardware that the virtual machine has, and the hardware configuration information.

The vmx file is often used in the "Virtual hardware (compatibility) version", the configuration file is called "Virtualhw.version", the value is generally "8", "10" and so on, these values are VMware Workstation or ESXi version synonymous. For example, ESXi5.1 is compatible with VMware Workstation 8 but is not compatible with VMware WORKSTATION10, Then if the virtualhw.version value of this file is 10, you cannot import this virtual machine directly into ESXi, but if you change this value to 8, you can import it.

You can change this here to change hardware compatibility (virtual machine hardware compatibility) to adjust virtual machine compatibility, such as the typical example below.

1. Import the OVA, OVF file format virtual machine provided by others into VMware ESXi or Vmwave Workstation

2. Import a VMware Workstation exported high-version virtual machine to a lower version of VMware ESXi

3. Import VMware ESXi-exported high-version virtual machines into the lower version of VMware ESXi

You can change this field to modify the compatibility of the virtual machine if you experience the above situation.

It is certain that the virtual machine template or virtual machine profile exported from VMware ESXi can be used directly in VMware Workstation.

Here is an example of the vmx file for VMware Workstation 10 and an example of the vmx file for VMware ESXi 5.1.

Examples of the VMX files for VMware Workstation 10:

. Encoding = "GBK"
Config.version = "8"
Virtualhw.version = "10"
Numvcpus = "2"
Cpuid.corespersocket = "2"
Vcpu.hotadd = "TRUE"
Scsi0.present = "TRUE"
Scsi0.virtualdev = "Lsilogic"
Memsize = "512"
Mem.hotadd = "TRUE"

......

Example of the vmx file for VMware ESXi 5.1:

. Encoding = "UTF-8"
Config.version = "8"
Virtualhw.version = "8"
Pcibridge0.present = "TRUE"
Pcibridge4.present = "TRUE"
Pcibridge4.virtualdev = "Pcierootport"
Pcibridge4.functions = "8"
Pcibridge5.present = "TRUE"
Pcibridge5.virtualdev = "Pcierootport"
Pcibridge5.functions = "8"

As shown in the previous code, Virtualhw.version is usually on line 3rd.

Workstation 5.x of virtual machine hardware supports the following list:

Are "compatible products" and "limits", respectively.

ACE 2.0
ACE 2.5-2.7
ESXi 4.x
ESXi 5.0
ESXi 5.1
Fusion 1.1
Fusion 2.x
Fusion 3.x
Fusion 4.0
Fusion 5.0
Fusion 6.0
Server 1.x
Server 2.x
Workstation 10.0
Workstation 5.x
Workstation 6.0
Workstation 6.5
Workstation 7.x
Workstation 8.0
Workstation 9.0

3.5 GB of memory
2 x Processors
4 network adapters
950 GB disk Size
No SATA devices
No HD audio
USB 2.0 not supported
Multi-monitor display not supported
No battery status
CPU Hot Swap not supported
Device Hot Swap not supported
Memory Hot Swap not supported
LSI Logic SAS SCSI Controller not supported
No VMCI support
No printer support

Workstation 6.x of virtual machine hardware supports the following list:

ACE 2.0
ACE 2.5-2.7
ESXi 4.x
ESXi 5.0
ESXi 5.1
Fusion 1.1
Fusion 2.x
Fusion 3.x
Fusion 4.0
Fusion 5.0
Fusion 6.0
Server 2.x
Workstation 10.0
Workstation 6.0
Workstation 6.5
Workstation 7.x
Workstation 8.0
Workstation 9.0

8 GB Ram
2 x Processors
10 Network adapters
950 GB disk Size
No SATA devices
No HD audio
CPU Hot Swap not supported
Device Hot Swap not supported
Memory Hot Swap not supported
LSI Logic SAS SCSI Controller not supported
No printer support

The Workstation 6.5-7.x virtual machine hardware supports the following list:

ACE 2.5-2.7
ESXi 4.x
ESXi 5.0
ESXi 5.1
Fusion 2.x
Fusion 3.x
Fusion 4.0
Fusion 5.0
Fusion 6.0
Server 2.x
Workstation 10.0
Workstation 6.5
Workstation 7.x
Workstation 8.0
Workstation 9.0

GB of memory
8 x Processors
10 Network adapters
2 TB Disk Size
No SATA devices
No HD audio

Workstation 8.x of virtual machine hardware supports the following list:

ESXi 5.0
ESXi 5.1
Fusion 4.0
Fusion 5.0
Fusion 6.0
Workstation 10.0
Workstation 8.0
Workstation 9.0

GB Memory
8 x Processors
10 Network adapters
2 TB Disk Size
No SATA devices

Workstation 9.x of virtual machine hardware supports the following list:

ESXi 5.1
Fusion 5.0
Fusion 6.0
Workstation 10.0
Workstation 9.0

GB Memory
8 x Processors
10 Network adapters
2 TB Disk Size
No SATA devices

Workstation 10.x of virtual machine hardware supports the following list:

Fusion 6.0
Workstation 10.0

GB Memory
16 x Processors
10 Network adapters
8 TB Disk Size

Attached: Virtual machine hardware version

the hardware version of the virtual machine reflects the virtual hardware capabilities supported by the virtual machine. These functions correspond to the physical hardware available on the ESXi host on which the virtual machine was created. Virtual hardware features include BIOS and EFI, available virtual PCI slots, maximum CPU count, maximum memory configuration, and other typical hardware features.

When you create a virtual machine, you can accept the default hardware version (which corresponds to the version of the host on which the virtual machines were created) or an earlier version. Older hardware versions can be used in the following situations:

to standardize testing and deployment in a virtual environment.

If you do not need to have a newer version of the feature.

to maintain compatibility with legacy hosts.

virtual machines with a hardware version earlier than version 8 can be ESXi 5.0 hosts, but does not have all the features available in hardware version 8. For example, you cannot use 32 virtual processors or GB of memory in a VM that has a hardware version earlier than version 8.

with vsphere WEB client or vsphere client, you can upgrade a virtual machine to the latest hardware version only. If the virtual machine does not have to remain compatible with the legacy Esx/esxi host, you can upgrade the virtual machine on the ESXi 5.0 host. In this scenario, the virtual opportunity is upgraded to version 8.

to maintain virtual machine compatibility with the ESX/ESXI 3.5 host, upgrade the virtual machine on the Esx/esxi 3.5 host, which will cause the virtual machine to be upgraded to version 4.

to maintain virtual machine compatibility with the Esx/esxi 4.x host, upgrade the virtual machine on the Esx/esxi 4.x host, which will cause the virtual machine to be upgraded to version 7.

The hardware version of a virtual machine can be less than the version of the host it is running in the following situations:

migrate virtual machines created on Esx/esxi 4.x or earlier hosts to ESXi 5.0 hosts.

Create a virtual machine on an ESXi 5.0 host by using an existing virtual disk that was created on a Esx/esxi 4.x or earlier version of the host .

add virtual disks created on Esx/esxi 4.x or earlier hosts to the virtual machines created on the ESXi 5.0 host.

You can create, edit, and run different versions of the virtual machine on the host (if the host supports the appropriate version). Sometimes, virtual machine operations on the host are restricted, or the virtual machine cannot access the host.

Table ESXi hosts and compatible virtual machine hardware versions

	version 8	version 7	version 4	compatibility with vCenter Server version
esxi 5.0			edit, run	vcenter Server 5.0
esx/esxi 4.x				vcenter Server 4.x
ESX Server 3.x	Not supported	Not supported	Create, edit, run	VirtualCenter Server 2.x and later

Version 3 virtual machines are not supported on ESXi 5.0 hosts. To fully use these virtual machines, upgrade your virtual hardware.

Note : in earlier versions of the Esx/esxi documentation, virtual machine hardware version 4 might be listed as VM3.

This article is from "Communication, My Favorites" blog, please make sure to keep this source http://dgd2010.blog.51cto.com/1539422/1587543

VMware Virtual machine profiles and compatible products, restrictions list