Top to Bottom Support with Server Virtualization

VMware claims 100% of the Fortune 100 companies are utilizing its solutions.

According to recent ESG research of current and planned server virtualization adopters:

• 76% of organizations' virtual machines are running Microsoft Windows
• 86% are running in production
• 42% have deployed mission critical applications

So.....it only makes sense that support programs are in place to support applications, operating systems and virtualization solutions from top to bottom, right? Hmmmm... not so fast.

There are a few pieces missing. Unless you are a highly regulated and risk averse company, this hasn't stopped you from deploying and I speak with many companies that are on the fast track to standardizing on virtual machines for all workloads. If you fall under a Microsoft Premier support agreement (like the Fortune 100), it's not a problem either, since Microsoft will help out.

The gray area falls within companies that do not have a Microsoft Premier Support agreement. Microsoft will support these folks, but there is still a possibility that Microsoft may ask you to replicate the issue in a physical environment. I also recently spoke with a user who was all ready to deploy Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on a VMware infrastructure and his Microsoft Regional Account Representative told him that "Microsoft does not support Exchange running on VMware." Yikes!

There is a lot of inconstistency in the market that needs to be addressed before it begins to affect user adoption. I have spoken with companies that have successfully deployed Exchange and other mission critical applications on VMware without a problem, and suspect this trend will continue. This week, Microsoft announced its SVVP (Server Virtualization Validation Program) in an effort to streamline the support process, but VMware was missing from the list of server virtualization vendors that have joined the program. I'm confident that the two teams will quickly come to contract terms in an effort to support the best interests of users.