Virtualizing Exchange 2007 (finally)

Hey everyone! I apologize for the "break". I had no idea it had been so long. Between mixing 80 and 100 hour weeks for my other job I haven't had much time to jump over here and write. Hopefully that's behind me, and you're all still here waiting with baited breath. ;)

Microsoft made a rather important announcement last week about running Exchange 2007 in a virtualized environment. Well, sort of. They've announced they've certified Exchange 2007 under the SVVP program, the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program. It's interesting to note the partners they list as part of the SVVP program:

• Cisco Systems, Inc.
  Citrix Systems, Inc.
  Novell, Inc.
  Sun Microsystems
  Unisys Corp.
  Virtual Iron Software
  VMware, Inc.

Who knew Cisco had their hand into virtualization while MSFT battles them on the UC/VoIP front? Even better, I'm surprised to see VMWare listed. After years of Microsoft denying VMWare's existence from a support perspective all of a sudden they show up on the partner list? Ahhhh, not so fast. Microsoft published an article entitled Support Partners for non-Microsoft Hardware Virtualization Software. And the only partner they list? ...Novell. A related article dives deeper into Microsoft's now official Support Policy for Microsoft Software Running in non-Microsoft Hardware Virtualization Software. This represents an even lower level of committed support than the previous unofficial stance of "best effort". This is maybe the most important part of the policy:

• "As part of the investigation, Microsoft may require the issue to be reproduced by the customer independently from the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. This may be done on Windows Server 2008 (with Hyper-V), the actual hardware platform with the Windows operating system installed directly upon it, or on both. Where issues are confirmed to be unrelated to the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software, Microsoft will support its software in a manner that is consistent with support provided on a server that has passed Microsoft's "Designed for" or "Certified for" testing criteria."

In other words, Microsoft can basically bury any non-MSFT virtualization support issue by forcing the user to reproduce the issue on Hyper-V or physical hardware. I'd say 99% of issues would go away if you rebuilt the server anyway. It's a convenient "out" for Microsoft. I'd like to see Microsoft embrace virtualization regardless of platform and certify their product to run under any standard virtual platform. Sure, it would require a new level of partnership between Microsoft and at least VMWare, but the replacement of Diane Greene with Paul Maritz has to be good for something, right? This Microsoft press release hints at the possibility of this relationship and it's corroborated by this NetworkWorld story but I'll believe it when I see it.

Microsoft has also changed their licensing model for virtualized systems

• "That 90-day restriction will be removed on Sept. 1 for the most commonly used Microsoft server       applications, including SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition, Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Standard and Enterprise editions, Dynamics CRM 4.0 Enterprise and Professional editions, Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft System Center products. In all, 41 server applications are affected."

This is good news. It was expected by many industry experts as most enterprises tended to take this approach regardless of formal licensing terms, but it's good that Microsoft acknowledges the reality of enterprise software instead of a more stringent, archaic view (ie. Oracle).