Sept 10, 2008
| Summary | |
| 1 | Microsoft announced policy updates |
| 2 | VMware Is Certified Under the Microsoft SVVP |
| 3 | Customer Benefits from Microsoft Support & Licensing Updates |
Summary
On August 19 2008, Microsoft announced “New Microsoft Licensing and Support Eases Path to Virtualization”, http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-19EasyPathPR.mspx
Microsoft announced policy updates in 2 major areas:
1. Microsoft’s Server Virtualization Validation Program (“SVVP”, announced at Microsoft TechEd in June 2008), has expanded policies for supporting Windows and Microsoft applications when running in virtual machines on non-Microsoft virtualization platforms.
Microsoft’s press release: “Microsoft has updated its technical support policy for 31 server applications so that customers can receive technical support when deploying those applications on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server or any other third-party validated virtualization platform. Now customers can get the same level of product support in a virtualized environment that they are accustomed to with nonvirtual environments.”
2. Microsoft has announced new flexibility in Microsoft server application license mobility, effective September 1, 2008 (http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/volbrief.mspx). Customers no longer need an excessive number of server application licenses to remain compliant while performing virtual machine migration (ex. VMware VMotion, Microsoft Quick Migration) and automated virtual machine restarts (ex. VMware HA,) in a virtual environment.
Microsoft’s press release: “Microsoft is updating its software licensing terms for 41 server applications, including Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Standard and Enterprise editions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Enterprise and Professional editions, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft System Center products. With the new terms, the company is waiving its previous 90-day reassignment rule, allowing customers to reassign licenses from one server to another within a server farm as frequently as needed. For many customers, the change will reduce the number of licenses they need to support their IT systems, increase agility, and simplify the tracking of application instances or processors because customers now can count licenses by server farm instead of by server.”
VMware Is Certified Under the Microsoft SVVP
VMware signed the program agreement for Microsoft SVVP in August 2008, and announced VMware ESX 3.5 update 2 as the first product listed by Microsoft for support under the program on September 3, 2008.
Customer Benefits from Microsoft Support & Licensing Updates
Support
With VMware’s participation in the SVVP and the qualification of our hypervisor under SVVP, customers can take advantage of Microsoft support when Microsoft products are deployed on VMware ESX.
VMware believes that expanded support under Microsoft’s SVVP is a good first step for customers – we look forward, as do our customers, to Microsoft’s rapid expansion of the list of SVVP-supported applications.
VMware will continue to work closely with Microsoft to provide the best possible experience for our joint customers, and to ensure that processes for joint support/escalations/handoffs to ensure customers deliver the best possible support.
Licensing
Customers continue to demand full mobility of all licenses to truly enable dynamic and agile IT environments. The upcoming licensing change from Microsoft to allow mobility of 41 server applications within a server farm will address a subset of the broader requirements, and is a good positive step toward meeting broader customer needs.
Other licensing issues that VMware and our customers and partners have raised remain unresolved. These issues include limitations on translation of Microsoft “Test Drive” virtual machines into other formats and prohibitions on commercial distribution of virtual machines containing Microsoft products. VMware and our customers will continue to voice these concerns and look to Microsoft and others in the ISV community to develop licensing terms that are 100% virtualization friendly.
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