diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/notification_sample_base.py b/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/notification_sample_base.py
index 44517a205a3c..596f1ab8c5d8 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/notification_sample_base.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/notification_sample_base.py
@@ -61,6 +61,15 @@ class NotificationSampleTestBase(test.TestCase,
 
         self.api = api_fixture.api
         self.admin_api = api_fixture.admin_api
+
+        # NOTE(gibi): Notification payloads always reflect the data needed
+        # for every supported API microversion so we can safe to use the latest
+        # API version in the tests. This helps the test to use the new API
+        # features too.
+        max_version = 'latest'
+        self.api.microversion = max_version
+        self.admin_api.microversion = max_version
+
         fake_notifier.stub_notifier(self)
         self.addCleanup(fake_notifier.reset)
 
@@ -156,6 +165,10 @@ class NotificationSampleTestBase(test.TestCase,
             image_uuid='155d900f-4e14-4e4c-a73d-069cbf4541e6',
             flavor_id=flavor_id)
 
+        # NOTE(gibi): from microversion 2.19 the description is not set to the
+        # instance name automatically but can be provided at boot.
+        server['description'] = 'some-server'
+
         if extra_params:
             extra_params['return_reservation_id'] = True
             server.update(extra_params)
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_service_update.py b/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_service_update.py
index a0e81a631a23..87ead09bb073 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_service_update.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_service_update.py
@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@ class TestServiceUpdateNotificationSample(
         body = {'host': 'host1',
                 'binary': 'nova-compute',
                 'forced_down': True}
-        self.admin_api.microversion = '2.12'
         self.admin_api.api_put('os-services/force-down', body)
         self._verify_notification('service-update',
                                   replacements={'forced_down': True,