This article discusses the support that Microsoft provides for Windows Server System software that is running in a Microsoft Virtual Server environment. Except as noted in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 897614 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897614/), Microsoft supports Windows Server System software running within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment subject to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy and use of the virtual hard disk (.vhd) format. We will make commercially reasonable efforts to investigate the issue and, if necessary, attempt to reproduce the issue on the appropriate hardware. Information about the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy is available at: Important Not all Windows Server System products make good candidates for running within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment. Your results depend on numerous factors such as the hardware environment, your performance requirements and the workloads present. To help determine whether Microsoft Virtual Server is the right solution for you, or for Microsoft recommended best practices for server consolidation, please see Solution Accelerator for Consolidating and Migrating LOB Applications at the following Microsoft Web site:

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Microsoft Certificate Server

Microsoft Certificate Server is supported starting with Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1) as the host and guest operating systems.

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Microsoft Exchange Server

Microsoft Exchange Server is supported starting with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

For more information about support for Exchange Server 2003 running in a virtual environment, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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Microsoft Systems Management Server

Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) is supported starting with SMS 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and subsequent SMS releases. Specifically, client roles are supported on SMS 2003 and later versions. Server roles are supported on SMS 2003 SP2 and later versions.

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For more information about consolidating SQL, Active Directory Domain Controllers, File and Print Servers, and Web Servers, please see the following sections.

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Consolidating SQL Server

If you plan to consolidate servers running Microsoft SQL Server, see SQL Server Consolidation on the 32-Bit Platform using a Clustered Environment at the Microsoft Web site:

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Consolidating Domain Controllers

If you plan to consolidate domain controllers, see the Solution Accelerator for Domain Server Consolidation and Migration: Windows NT 4.0 to Windows Server 2003 at the Microsoft Web site:

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Consolidating File and Print Servers

If you plan to consolidate file and print servers, see the Solution Accelerator for Consolidating and Migrating File and Print Servers from Windows NT 4.0 at the Microsoft Web site:

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Capacity Planning for Commerce Server

The Commerce Server Performance Tools site provides pointers to white papers and tools that you can use to plan capacity for your Commerce Server Site using Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) methodology. The Commerce Server Performance Tools are available at the Microsoft Web site:

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Live Communications Server 2005 Planning Guide

This guide describes the planning process for deploying instant messaging (IM) and presence services in your organization using Live Communications Server 2005. The Live Communications Server 2005 Planning Guide is available at the Microsoft Web site:

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