Windows Virtualization Team Blog : Sun

The Validated Hypervisor

porourke — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:00:00 GMT

By now you might have seen that VMware ESX 3.5 update 2 has passed the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program. They announced it here.

today announced it has qualified its industry-leading VMware ESX hypervisor under the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP). VMware ESX 3.5 update 2 (ESX 3.5u2) is the first hypervisor to be listed under the program, providing VMware customers who run Windows Server and Microsoft applications with access to cooperative support from Microsoft and VMware.

Of course we all read that VMware only agreed to participate in SVVP a couple weeks ago, around the time we announced expanded technical support for 31 server applications running on validated hypervisors. Congrats to them for achieving a validated configuration so quickly. ESX 3.5 update 2 now joins Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V as being validated to run Windows Server and associated Microsoft server applications. And now that ESX 3.5 has passed SVVP, VMware customers will join Novell customers as receiving cooperative technical support (if there's a support policy in place, and the customer is running the validated configuration) for Microsoft software running in/on their virtualization software.

I'd expect to see other hypervisors pass the SVVP soon. There are 7 vendors now committed to participate in SVVP, the newest addition being Unisys.

And given today's news, it's a good time to review the details on Microsoft's support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft virtualization software, read KB article 897615. Here's an excerpt:

for vendors with whom Microsoft has established a support relationship that covers virtualization solutions, or for vendors who have Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) validated solutions, Microsoft will support server operating systems subject to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy for its customers who have support agreements when the operating system runs virtualized on non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. This support will include coordinating with the vendor to jointly investigate support issues. As part of the investigation, Microsoft may still require the issue to be reproduced independently from the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. 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 when that software is not running together with non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software.

Patrick

UPDATE on Sept. 9 - I incorrectly noted that vendors who pass SVVP will be noted in a KB article. Wrong. I'm told the vendors will be listed in the Windows Server catalog. You'll see three vendors' products listed there now. And if you're attending VMworld 2008 next week, there's a new session being added so that you can learn more about SVVP from Microsoft and VMware. See session EA4460

Thoughts on today's virtualization licensing and support news

porourke — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:01:00 GMT

Today we announced some changes to server application licensing and support policies related to running MS server apps on top of anyone's hypervisor. Several folks have written or blogged about it, here are some:

Chris Wolf (Burton Group)

Virtualization.info

NetworkWorld

Windows IT Pro

Thoughts on application mobility licensing

As of Sept. 1, 41 Microsoft server applications are covered, both per-processor apps and server/CAL applications that are available via Volume Licensing [Enterprise Agreement and Open Agreements]. In essence the 90-day mobility rule is removed for these applications. With these changes, both licenses and software can move more freely across servers in a server farm [up to two data centers each physically located in a time zone that is within four hours, or within EU and/or EFTA].

Here are some examples of how the licensing might work for you:

· A customer has a server farm with 8 4-processor servers, running a total of 4 copies of Exchange.

o Under the old rules, they would need to either manually move the Exchange instances to another server that is already licensed for Exchange, OR they would need to license all 8 possible servers for Exchange.

o Starting Sept. 1, they will need to have a license for each running instance (4) and those licenses can be moved from one physical server to another as needed.

· A customer has a server farm with 8 4-processor servers, running a total of 4 instances of SQL Server Enterprise Edition under the per-processor model.

o Under the old rules, the customer would need to manually move an instance from one licensed processor to another, or they would need as many as 32 licenses (8x4)

o Starting Sept 1, the customer will need a maximum of 4 licenses. Because Microsoft allows unlimited instances on a processor licensed for SQL Server Enterprise Edition, the customer could have as few as one license if all 4 instances are always moved together.

A few other points:

these licensing rights don't apply to server apps acquired via OEM or retail channels
only apply to those products listed; it doesn't apply to client access licenses (CALs) or management licenses MLs) or Windows Server
If you've recently purchased these server apps listed in the"Application Server License Mobility" VL Brief based on rules prior to Sept. 1, then you should talk to the Microsoft partner or account rep to receive maximum value.
Why no Windows Server? Check out the use rights with Windows Server enterprise and datacenter editions.

Thoughts on technical support

As of today, you'll see that we're expanding tech support policy for (initial) 31 server applications for customers that run these apps on WS08 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server or any other validated hypervisor (type 1 or 2). The nut of it is ... customers will be able to get the same level of tech support for virtualized workloads that they get today with non-virtualized workloads.

The kicker here, and where many journos reported inaccurate information, is that 3rd-party vendors' hypervisors must first pass the validation test before customers can get cooperative support from Microsoft and that vendor. For example, it was reported that VMware signed an agreement to participate in the Server Virtualization Validation Program. That much is true. However, it doesn't mean that cooperative support is now in place. First, ESX Server must go through and pass the validation test. Once validated, they'll be added to KB article 944987, where we list "support partners for non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software." Today only Novell is listed, and that's due to the broader technical collaboration agreement in place between the companies.

The other thing to note is that the server application teams have posted configurations that will be supported running on validated hypervisors. For example, the Exchange team posted a blog about their policy, which can be summarized as:

Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 is supported on Hyper-V and other validated hypervisors when deployed according to the guidelines published on TechNet.

The Sharepoint team blogged about their policy today and posted an FAQ here.

Let us know if you have questions. Cheers,

Patrick O'Rourke

Virtualization and Interoperability

porourke — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:14:00 GMT

Two weeks ago three members of the interoperability Vendor Alliance were in Redmond to test the interoperability capabilities of their virtualization technologies. Citrix, Novell and Sun tested some interoperability scenarios with us here at Microsoft that aim to prove how interoperability is possible on heterogeneous environments where customers are running virtualized environment on multiple platforms.

The first part of the lab was about setting up all the machines, we installed Citrix XenServer, Novell XEN Virtual Server, Sun XVM and Microsoft new Hyper-V RC1 virtualization technologies on several machines in the Microsoft Partner lab. The goal now is to test some interoperability scenarios where applications and services are running on different platforms. For the next phase we decided to use the StockTrader application because it is a ready to use app that runs on IBM WebSphere and on .NET. The .NET implementation is compatible with the original WebSphere implementation so it is possible to use, for instance, a DB2 database running on a SUSE Linux machine from the Front end part of the app based on ASP.NET. In this way we will be able to mix and match the different virtualization environments to test cross-platform interoperability from both virtualization and application point of view. In the next couple of weeks we are going to complete the installation of the StockTrader application and test all the scenarios.

This is only the first of a series of labs that will focus on Virtualization, in the next months we will continue to build more complex scenarios on top of the one we use for the first lab, we will add additional aspects such as Authentication and Authorization and system management so there is more to come. I’ll be sure to post updates along the way.

- Claudio Caldato (Senior Program Manager, US Corp Interoperability)