Microsoft has done a nice job of late regarding supporting their operating systems and applications when they are run in a virtual machine. First they created the Server Virtualization Validation Program to validate their software running on hypervisors from various vendors, including their own Hyper-V. They’ve taken the SVVP one step further by adding a new tool called the Support Policy Wizard that makes it fast and simple to verify Microsoft support. It can be found at the following link:
http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvpwizard.htm
This tool makes it easy to select a specific configuration, including operating system, hypervisor, and Microsoft application, and then verify it against the SVVP to ensure Microsoft supportability. It also lists any specific application features that are or are not supported. Validating your configuration against Microsoft’s Support Policy Wizard is an important step, especially when virtualizing mission critical applications like Exchange or SQL.
Try the wizard and see the results for yourself. I tried it myself and the results are below. I selected Exchange Server 2007 SP1 running on vSphere 4 with Windows Server 2008 x64 and received the following supportability statement back:
Summary Support Statement*
This configuration is Supported.
* Customers with Premier-level support agreements should contact their account manager for more information
* Additional information is available in the “Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software” which can be viewed here
Support Statement Details
Product: Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 on VMware vSphere with Windows Server 2008 (x64) Guest OS
Search the Knowledge Base for information related to this configuration
For Exchange Service 2007 Pack 1 and later, see here for specific configuration information. Note: The Exchange Server guest virtual machine must be deployed on the Windows Server 2008 operating system.
Specific third-party virtualization information is available at here
To get support on the virtualization solution, the customer also needs to have a support agreement with the third party vendor.
Supported features: Anti-Virus, Back-up Software, Virtual Machine Management Software, Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR), Virtual Processors
Unsupported features: Unified Messaging, Dynamically Expanding Virtual Disks, Virtual disks that use differencing or delta mechanisms, Hyper-V Quick Migration combined with Exchange Clustering, Virtual Machine Snap Shots