| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| protech |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 08:23:40 AM
Hi Guys,
There is some confusion over “does HV (officially)support Exch 2003”.
Microsoft say any Virtualisation Platform that followed Virtual Server 2005 would support it, but the obviously don’t explicitly mention Hyper-V.
Microsoft now don’t seem to mention anywhere if they do/don’t (officially) support it, probably because they class it as a retired product.
My experience is that it does without any issues.
This guy says it’s fine: http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/virtualization/virtualizing-exchange-2007-and-exchange-2003-with-hyper-v
Anyone know the truth? :)
Cheers
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| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Jazzy |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 3:05:46 PM
quote:
Originally posted by protech
Cheers guys - Jazzy - define 'supported' - do you mean by MS? as my experience shows that it will work unless anyone knows otherwise?
Supported by Microsoft that is. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548(EXCHG.80).aspx
quote:
Microsoft supports Exchange Server 2003 in production on hardware virtualization software (virtual machines) only when all the following conditions are true:
- The hardware virtualization software is Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 or any later version of Microsoft Virtual Server.
- The version of Exchange Server that is running on the virtual machine is Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later.
- The Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Virtual Machine Additions are installed on the guest operating system.
- Exchange Server 2003 is configured as a stand-alone server and not as part of a Windows failover cluster.
- The SCSI driver that is installed on the guest operating system is the Microsoft Virtual Machine PCI SCSI Controller driver.
- The virtual hard disk Undo feature is not enabled for the Exchange virtual machine.
I presented serveral times on Exchange and virtualization best practices. I ask people to raise hands and ask three questions:
- Who runs Exchange 2003 servers?
- Who uses hardware virtualisation for these 2003 servers?
- Who has ever heard of a product called Virtual Server 2005 R2?
The answers are usaualy: 50%, 50% (same people), 0%.  |
| Curt |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 2:37:17 PM
Have you ever called Exchange support late at night?
Then you would know why it's not "Supported".
I can't tell you how many of these "Techs" told me to reinstall Exchange when the issue was not in their Knowledgebase.
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| wkasdo |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 2:26:11 PM
It's a funny thing. Exchange 2003 works fine on all modern hypervisors -- why wouldn't it? -- and lots of people do it. But as Jetze says, it's not supported by Microsoft. |
| protech |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 11:05:25 AM
Cheers guys - Jazzy - define 'supported' - do you mean by MS? as my experience shows that it will work unless anyone knows otherwise? |
| Jazzy |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 10:06:28 AM
It's only supported on Virtual Server 2005 R2. |
| Curt |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 09:44:22 AM
And I had Exchange 2003 virtualized as far back as VMWARE GSX.
In production for several clients. No issues of great consequence.
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| Curt |
Posted - 11/09/2011 : 09:42:27 AM
The truth is your environment is the definition.
Like in the expression "your milage may vary".
I heard that support for Exch2003 is over, so make sure you have your arms around it.
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