Microsoft adds AMD support to beta of Virtual Server 2005 SP1

Microsoft Thursday released the second beta of Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack1, adding promised support for Advanced Micro Devices' virtualization technology.

The support for the technology, recently introduced by AMD in its Opteron processor, matches support for similar technology from Intel that was included in Beta 1 of Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is scheduled to ship before the end of March 2007.

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Microsoft Thursday released the second beta of Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack1, adding promised support for Advanced Micro Devices' virtualization technology.

The support for the technology, recently introduced by AMD in its Opteron processor, matches support for similar technology from Intel that was included in Beta 1 of Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is scheduled to ship before the end of March 2007.

In April of this year, Microsoft stripped the $199 price tag off Virtual Server and began offering it as a free download to its Windows users. At the same time, Microsoft also announced support for Linux as a guest operating system.

On Thursday, the company said Vista would be added as a supported guest operating system when Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 ships.

Support for the AMD and Intel technology is designed to help improve performance for non-Windows guest operating systems and improve isolation so a corrupt virtual machine won't damage others on the same system, according to Microsoft.

In addition to the AMD support, Microsoft added Active Directory integration and management features, Volume Shadow Service for improved backup and discovery, and added offline virtual hard disk so users can edit files on a Virtual Hard Disk without having to load the virtual machine.

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