SQL Server 2008 at TechEd

I have finally finished at TechEd after another round of interesting questions on the Microsoft SQL Server ask the experts stand. Virtualisation was the consistent hot topic and the 2 FAQ’s are:

Is it supported? Yes fully in a variety of situations the chapter on verse for Hyper-V is here. Apparently there are other virtualisation platforms out there and so there is also a Server Virtualisation Validation Program (SVVP) which also means that Microsoft will also support SQL Server (and the rest of the Microsoft server) on a variety of other Virtualisation platforms including selected products from:

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

Is it fast? The SQL CAT team have a good whitepaper on this here contrasting physical and virtual performance in Hyper-V. Other vendors have done similar work so check your vendors web sites for their research.

What about High Availability Configurations in a Virtual Environment? I need to look into this a bit more (to get the precise word on what is supported) so I will make this question a post in it’s own right when I get the definite word.

In the meantime, it’s time for some sleep as the parties are all this week are just a blur..