Microsoft Virtualization support for Exchange and new Licensing Announcements
Hi all
There's been a major announcement about Microsoft Exchange support in virtualized environments and respective licensing.
About Exchange support here's the two major changes:
Microsoft now supports Exchange Server 2007 SP1 running Hyper-V or hypervisors validated under the Microsoft Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP).
Microsoft is waiving its 90-day license reassignment policy to enable customers who virtualize Exchange to move their licenses between servers within a data farm as often as necessary.
Support policies were also updated, and theres a new article called Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments. This article includes Microsoft's support policy and recommendations for running Exchange Server 2003 in a Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 environment. It replaces Microsoft Knowledge Base article 320220, which previously detailed the policy and recommendations for this environment. In addition, this article includes Microsoft's support policy and Microsoft's recommendations for running Exchange Server 2007 SP1 in a hardware virtualization environment.
For all the ones that are planing a Exchange migration to a virtual environment:
The follow links provide more info about the licensing and support changes:
- Microsoft press release - https://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-19EasyPathPR.mspx
- Volume Licensing Brief from WWLP - https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/volbrief.mspx
- Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=897615
- Support partners for non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=944987
- Microsoft server software and supported virtualization environments - https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=957006