Exchange Server 2007 is now supported on Hyper-V and other (read “Non-Microsoft”) hypervisors validated under the Microsoft Server Vitualization Validation Program. Vendors participating in the program: Citrix, Cisco Systems, Novell, Sun Micrososystems, and Virtual Iron Software.
The new support policy for Exchange in virtualized environments: Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments.
- What’s supported: Exchange Server 2007 SP1 running on Windows Server 2008
- Supported Exchange 2007 Server Roles: All except Unified Messaging
- What Hypervisor: Microsoft Hyper-V, or any hypervisor validated by MSVVP
- Not supported: Differencing disks and expandable virtual disks
- Not supported: Taking VM snapshots (these aren’t application-aware)
- Not supported: Combining Exchange’s clustering features (SCC and CCR) with availability features from the virtualization layer, such as Hyper-V’s quick migration.
A change has also been made to licensing policies allowing transfer of licenses for server applications (such as Exchange and SQL Server) between servers as frequently as required. This was earlier restricted to 90 days. This facilitates virtualization, where VMs running these server applications can be easily transferred from one server to another. More about the change in licensing policy in the Volume Licensing Brief titled Application Server License Mobility (Word DOC).
More details about the announcement in the Exchange team blog post: Microsoft Virtualization and Licensing Announcements
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Bharat –
Thanks for the update on teh virtualization support of exchange. It has always been a very confusing and convoluded thin red line. Do you know if MS support Exchange 2007 Sp1 on VMWARE ESX? I do see them as part of the MSVVP but not sure as to what the guidance is regaring Exchange 2007 support.
James
Thanks for sharing this informative with us….