Ehlo All,
Sadly, there is a LOT of marketing non-truths (aka lies) being spread about Virtualization and Exchange Server (e.g. it doesn't work, Microsoft won't support it, bad performance, etc). I was so tired of hearing this, I finally decided to give a presentation at the NY Exchange Server User Group Meeting this past week that discussed an intro to virtualization and Exchange and exactly what is supported (Exchange 2003 & 2007 is VM supported, VMware ESX and Exchange 2007 SP1 is supported, and much more). My Exchange environment is fully Microsoft PSS (Professional Support Services) supported since it's Exchange 2007 SP2, Windows 2008, and VMware ESX 3.5 U2. Amazing, I know. I've included the topics presented in the evening, and feel free to spend sometime reading through PDF. I've included referenced footnotes as well.
Presentation Topics
- intro to virtualization
- pro's / con's of virtualization
- what servers work with virtualization
- Microsoft's Exchange Support Policy explained in detail
- different Exchange version support
- VM performance comparison to old school hardware deployments (and yes, it's old school)
- why virtualization is more important than performance
- what Exchange Server really needs
Review the September 8, 2009 NYExUG presentation by Ben Serebin, and post any questions you have on the blog and I'll happily answer them.
.
QUIT
Showing posts with label Virtualization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtualization. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Exchange Server Virtualization Intro Articles
Ehlo All,
Here is a good starting (index) point article for learning about running Exchange Server in a virtualized environment on SearchExchange's website. Only issue is it's skewed toward Hyper-V. I would strongly recommend looking to run Exchange in VMware ESx. I run my production Exchange 2007 in ESXi 3.5. I plan to organize an upcoming NYExUG meeting to discuss virtualization, since it's important.
-Ben
Here is a good starting (index) point article for learning about running Exchange Server in a virtualized environment on SearchExchange's website. Only issue is it's skewed toward Hyper-V. I would strongly recommend looking to run Exchange in VMware ESx. I run my production Exchange 2007 in ESXi 3.5. I plan to organize an upcoming NYExUG meeting to discuss virtualization, since it's important.
-Ben
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Why you can't VM your Exchange 2007 UM Server!
Ehlo All,
This brief posting from Windows IT Pro explains why you can't VM (virtualize) your Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging role server. Otherwise, virtualize away assuming you have enough disk I/O for it.
-Ben
This brief posting from Windows IT Pro explains why you can't VM (virtualize) your Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging role server. Otherwise, virtualize away assuming you have enough disk I/O for it.
-Ben
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Microsoft's Support Policy on VMware Virtualization
Ehlo All,
An attendee at our March NY Exchange User Group meeting asked about Microsoft's support policy on the industry leader of virtualization which is running at 100% of all Fortune 100 companies, VMware. There is a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt in this realm. So, let me make it crystal clear! Microsoft WILL SUPPORT VMware's SVVP (explained below) solution which is ESX 3.5 update 2. Microsoft virtualized support is for over 30+ server applications & operating systems as per KB ID 957006. Just to clarify, for Exchange 2003 & 2007 SP1 are supported.
Quoted from MS KB # 897615
Additionally, 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.
VMware's Exchange support information for ISV support.
VMware Press Release about ESX 3.5 update 2 support Exchange, SQL, SharePpint, and more. They even quote a 50k seat install on ESX with Exchange by the University of Plymouth in England.
Just to be clear, make sure your issue is non-virtualization related. e.g. not performance or other, and more a configuration or those types of problems. If you have an I/O issue, it could easily be a VM issue, so make sure those subsystems working well and you're 100% sure it's not VM related.
Now, you know the real story behind Microsoft support for virtualization and you can now rest easy. Or the other solution is to have a very good back process running on non-virtualized hardware. That's what I do. Sleep is over-rated.
-Ben
An attendee at our March NY Exchange User Group meeting asked about Microsoft's support policy on the industry leader of virtualization which is running at 100% of all Fortune 100 companies, VMware. There is a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt in this realm. So, let me make it crystal clear! Microsoft WILL SUPPORT VMware's SVVP (explained below) solution which is ESX 3.5 update 2. Microsoft virtualized support is for over 30+ server applications & operating systems as per KB ID 957006. Just to clarify, for Exchange 2003 & 2007 SP1 are supported.
Quoted from MS KB # 897615
Additionally, 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.
VMware's Exchange support information for ISV support.
VMware Press Release about ESX 3.5 update 2 support Exchange, SQL, SharePpint, and more. They even quote a 50k seat install on ESX with Exchange by the University of Plymouth in England.
Just to be clear, make sure your issue is non-virtualization related. e.g. not performance or other, and more a configuration or those types of problems. If you have an I/O issue, it could easily be a VM issue, so make sure those subsystems working well and you're 100% sure it's not VM related.
Now, you know the real story behind Microsoft support for virtualization and you can now rest easy. Or the other solution is to have a very good back process running on non-virtualized hardware. That's what I do. Sleep is over-rated.
-Ben
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A free gift for BES admins. Do you know about a "knife-edge cutover"? You now do!
Ehlo All,
I've been involved (meaning supporting) BlackBerry Exchange Servers (BES) for 5 years or so, and I just found out about the failover process of BES 4.0 & 4.1. RIM calls it "knife-edge cutover". This is a pretty cool capability that's not too difficult to implement.
I'm a big believer in reading documentation, and didn't know about this until another IT tech casually mentioned this in passing while we discussed virtualization. To summarize, it allows you to quickly failover to a new BES without the need to reactivate BlackBerry devices for end users. So, it allows you to upgrade server hardware, replace a virtual machine (which we recently did and used this approach), or test fail-overs. It worked flawlessly. BlackBerry users didn't even know we failed over to a new vm (virtual machine) since it took only a few minutes. A client's BES vm was having issues, so we used a base vm image and setup BES capability, and then perform a knife-edge cutover. Problem solved, and I'm sure we won't be touching that image for many more years.
Enjoy this gift.... RIM's KB10278 instructions about knife-edge cutover for BES 4.0 & 4.1
-Ben
I've been involved (meaning supporting) BlackBerry Exchange Servers (BES) for 5 years or so, and I just found out about the failover process of BES 4.0 & 4.1. RIM calls it "knife-edge cutover". This is a pretty cool capability that's not too difficult to implement.
I'm a big believer in reading documentation, and didn't know about this until another IT tech casually mentioned this in passing while we discussed virtualization. To summarize, it allows you to quickly failover to a new BES without the need to reactivate BlackBerry devices for end users. So, it allows you to upgrade server hardware, replace a virtual machine (which we recently did and used this approach), or test fail-overs. It worked flawlessly. BlackBerry users didn't even know we failed over to a new vm (virtual machine) since it took only a few minutes. A client's BES vm was having issues, so we used a base vm image and setup BES capability, and then perform a knife-edge cutover. Problem solved, and I'm sure we won't be touching that image for many more years.
Enjoy this gift.... RIM's KB10278 instructions about knife-edge cutover for BES 4.0 & 4.1
-Ben
Thursday, August 28, 2008
New Formula: Exchange + Virtualization = Microsoft Support
Yes, the new formula is correct. And I did not expect to see this so soon. Microsoft has announced that you can run Exchange 2003/2007 in a Virtual Server 2005 R2/Hyper-V virtualized environment and get Microsoft Professional Support Services. Here is the official Microsoft release about this. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx There are a details for each configuration (e.g. all 2007 roles supported except Unified Messaging), but this is a step in the right direction.
Also, Windows ITPro's article on this mentions that Microsoft has created a Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) and that VMware is in the process of attempting to achieve certification. This is not a show stopper in my eyes since VMware supports clients Windows & Exchange hosts currently.
-Ben
Also, Windows ITPro's article on this mentions that Microsoft has created a Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) and that VMware is in the process of attempting to achieve certification. This is not a show stopper in my eyes since VMware supports clients Windows & Exchange hosts currently.
-Ben
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