Overview
The latest available version of the hardware compatibility layer guarantees the best performance and most reliable behavior of the applications running on your virtual machine.
The hardware compatibility layer version is basically the current available version on the underlying host systems at the time of VM provisioning.
Upgrading a Virtual Machine to the latest hardware version is the physical equivalent of swapping the drive out of one system and placing it into a new one. Therefore, it is recommended to take a snapshot of the VM before upgrading in case there are problems after the upgrade.
If a new hardware version is available for a virtual machine, an alarm icon 
with a corresponding message appears on the particular VM in the VM management area of the Self-Service-Portal¹.
For VMs in the Enterprise Cloud, the responsible VM administrators are also informed byCentreon by email.
¹VM management Enterprise Cloud
VM management Research Cloud
How to upgrade the hardware version of a virtual machine?
In the VM management area of the Self-Service-Portal:
- Shut down VM (click on
)
- Create snapshot (click on Create snapshot in the 3-dot menu)
- Upgrade hardware version (click on Upgrade hardware version in the 3-dot menu)
After a successful upgrade, the alarm icon disappears and the menu item Update hardware version is deactivated. Then start the VM (click on 
). Since the operating system sets up the new hardware at the first start, the first startup process after the upgrade may take a bit longer than usual.