Application Support in Virtual Environments Policy
All the below listed Microsoft Server-focused application versions, as well as all
later versions of those applications, are supported on Hyper-V and Server Virtualization
Validation Program (SVVP) validated products, so long as the virtualization product
supports the correct operating system version and platform architecture(s) required
by a specific application.
This support is subject to the Product Life-cycle Policy for any specific application,
as detailed at the included links for each application. For more information, visit
the
Microsoft Support Lifecycle page. In some cases, specific versions of Microsoft
server software are required for support. These versions are noted in this article,
and the supported versions may be updated as needed.
Microsoft Server-focused applications not listed below are not supported for operation
in a virtual environment. If an application or version is not visible below, queries
can be made at this alias
svvpfb@microsoft.com. Please provide the specific and
exact application product name, version, service pack or feature pack, and platform
architecture [x86 or x64].
There may be application-specific links for special guidance on what virtualization
limitations might exist. See the "Product-specific virtualization information" links
for some of the Windows Server-focused applications below. Additionally, unless
otherwise stated, the minimum processor, memory, disk space and other requirements
are not modified by operation in a virtual environment. Refer to the respective
Product Requirements page for each application for that information.
With regards to what Windows Server operating system versions and platform architectures
are supported by a vendor's particular version of their virtualization product,
see the vendor's web site for further information.
Note that not all software applications are good candidates for running in a virtualized
environment. For example, if an application has specific hardware requirements,
such as access to a physical PCI card, the applications cannot be supported in a
virtual machine. This is true because virtual machines generally do not have access
to underlying physical hardware.
The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies
that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise,
about the performance or reliability of these products. Third parties are responsible
for testing their software together with Microsoft software. Microsoft software
may not work as intended in third-party virtualized environments or with any features
that are not directly related to emulation of a physical system as a virtual machine.
With regards to virtualization product functionality that operates without the knowledge
or cooperation of the operating system or applications executing within the virtual
machine such as, but not limited to; live migration of virtual machines, virtual
machine clustering, memory ballooning, virtual machine fault tolerance, etc., these
are outside the scope of the Server Virtualization Validation Program.
There are no industry standards to follow in implementing such features, and since
'by design' the operating system [whether that be Windows Server or some other OS]
or application are not cognizant of such virtualization product functionality, there
is no practical method of testing these virtualization product features using Microsoft-developed
tests and tools. The SVVP program does not test these features or functions, and
the virtualization product vendor is solely responsible for testing and supporting
such features. However, unless otherwise stated in articles or documents for Windows
Server operating systems or for Microsoft Server-focused applications, Microsoft
does not preclude their use by customers. If a customer running a supported version
of Windows Server on a validated virtualization solution experiences issues after
using such third party virtualization features (such as live migration) that operate
independently of Microsoft products, then the customer should contact the virtualization
vendor for assistance in resolving the issue.
This policy and listing will be updated as new Microsoft Windows Server-focused
applications are released. If an application or version is not visible above, queries
can be made at this alias:
svvpfb@microsoft.com. Please provide the specific and
exact application product name, version, service pack or feature pack, and platform
architecture [x86 or x64].