Well right off the bat... MS doesn't support Windows on VMWARE; it is best effort unless Microsoft can determine that the issue can be reproduced on physical hardware. VMWARE claims this is because of competitive reasons but MS never supported it even before they bought the Connectix product.
>From what I have heard, our dev guys have actually hit things that they couldn't reproduce. Personally I would run Windows on VMWARE all day in a lab (we do) or at home (I did). I wouldn't even start to consider it for production (never ever ever). If you want to look at virtualization software for running Windows, get into the Virtual Server preview program that MS has as obviously the Windows products will be fully supported on that software. IBM and HP both claim full support for Windows on VMWARE. However you have to keep in mind, what can they really do? If there is a problem with VMWARE they can send that info back to the vendor. If they find a problem in Windows they can send that back to MS. They have no power to really fix anything. I have had a conversation with one of the guys at IBM concerning the support model and in the end he said, there is no SLA for software support from anyone - no guarantees... Great! He mentioned that all of their VMWARE contracts are one offs negotiated specifically with the customer at hand. But again, in the end, all they can do is pat your hand and say, we understand, yes that does suck that it doesn't work, but don't worry we sent someone a note - if we could fix it ourselves we would, but we can't. I actually stopped using the VMWARE products at home about 3 months ago and switched to the MS products as I figured I might as well get used to it. Here are some links worth reading: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;273508 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=%2Fservicedesks%2Fbin%2Fkbsea rch.asp%3FArticle%3D320220 http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/server/story/0,10801,87 185,00.html joe -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mike Baudino Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 3:12 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ActiveDir] DC's on VMWare All, Server consolidation has us heading towards putting production Windows Server 2003 domain controllers on VMWare VMs using ESX. We have not yet deployed AD widely (some business units have it and some don't) but are working on a new design that will handle all business units. Our lab is a combination of physical servers on workstation-class hardware and VMs on VMWare Workstation4 and on ESX. However, our direction for production DC's is VMs on ESX unless we find that it doesn't work properly or well enough. We're going to be testing this in the lab. I've seen recent emails about using VMs to spin off labs. But does anyone have experience running production DC's on VMs or any known "gotcha's" that they're willing to share? Thanks, Mike Baudino ******************* PLEASE NOTE ******************* This E-Mail/telefax message and any documents accompanying this transmission may contain privileged and/or confidential information and is intended solely for the addressee(s) named above. If you are not the intended addressee/recipient, you are hereby notified that any use of, disclosure, copying, distribution, or reliance on the contents of this E-Mail/telefax information is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action against you. Please reply to the sender advising of the error in transmission and immediately delete/destroy the message and any accompanying documents. Thank you. List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/
