This article is created to describe all the steps and conditions for upgrading the hardware version for the Edge VM. 

Prior to NSX-T 4.0.1, Edge VM hardware version was 13. 

Starting from NSX 4.0.1, there is additional feature support which requires upgrade of the Edge HW version.

Upgraded HW version is a requirement for running SmartNIC-enabled Edge.
SmartNIC requires a minimum version combination of vSphere 8.0, NSX-T 4.0.1 and Edge Hardware Version 20.

VMware NSX-T Data Center

There are now a number of possible Edge VM HW versions and they are determined by the ESXi version where the Edge VM runs.
NSX-T 4.0.1 is supported only with vSphere 7.x and vSphere 8.x environments.

 

ESX version	Edge Hardware Version
ESXi 7.0	HW version 17
ESXi 7.0 U1	HW version 18
ESXi 7.0 U2/U3	HW version 19
ESXi 8.0	HW version 20

Greenfield Deployments
NSX-T Edge node autodeployed, from NSX-T manager API/UI, will automatically deploy the Edge VM with a HW version according to the version of ESXi above.

NSX-T Edge node manually deployed, through OVA, will require the administrator to set the HW version at deployment time.


Upgraded Environments
It is recommended to upgrade the vSphere environment first before upgrading NSX to 4.0.1.

Since Edge HW version is determined from the ESXi version, it is important to ensure that all versions of ESXi in a vSphere cluster are the same version. Heterogenous vSphere clusters may cause problems during DRS/vMotion since vMotion may fail due to HW version incompatibility. VMware does not recommend running NSX Edge VMs in a heterogeneous vSphere clusters.

Existing autodeployed Edges, from UI/API, will continue to have the same HW version.
If an Edge VM is redeployed, it will automatically be deployed with an upgraded HW version matching the vSphere version.
Reference: Redeploy an NSX Edge VM Appliance

Edge VMs which were originally manually deployed from ovf will remain at HW version 13.
New Edges will need to be deployed, specifying the higher HW version at deployment time.
The replace option can then be used to replace the older harder version Edges
Reference: Replace an NSX Edge Transport Node

 How to handle new Hardware version mismatch alarm on NSX 4.0.1 (89487) - https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/89487

VMware NSX Upgrade Path - https://interopmatrix.vmware.com/Upgrade?productId=175