Technical support will be available for customers running a supported Windows Server operating system on a validated virtualization solution through Microsoft's technical support channels, if the Microsoft customer is running copies of Windows Server they have acquired and licensed from Microsoft directly. SVVP does not apply to vendors that are hosting Windows Server or other Microsoft products through the Microsoft Service Provider License Agreement Program (SPLA). Support for SPLA customers is provided under the SPLA agreement by the SPLA hoster. Customers can deploy the solutions that are included in the program and expect to receive operating system support from either Microsoft or the virtualization vendor.
For more information about Microsoft's policies for supporting software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=897615. In addition, refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957006/ to find more information about Microsoft's support policies for its applications running in virtual environments.
How will a customer get support for Windows if they are running on a validated virtualization solution?
When will customers be able to get support?
Customers will be able to benefit from this program as soon as a virtualization vendor's submission is validated and listed on the Windows Server Catalog in the SVVP Products List. Customers can deploy validated solutions in the catalog and expect to receive support from Microsoft or the virtualization vendor when running it on servers Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2 or later versions of Windows Server operating systems with the same processor architecture validated.
Will customers running on validated solutions still be required to reproduce problems on hardware?
While we fully expect the Server Virtualization Validation Program to ferret out the majority of issues associated with running virtualized operating systems, there may be situations when the root cause problem cannot be isolated or duplicated without asking a customer to reproduce the error on hardware. Every situation will be examined on a case by case basis and we expect to ask customer to reproduce problems on "bare metal" only as a last resort.
What questions should we ask ourselves to determine if our system is eligible for support?
Is the virtualization solution and version we are using validated and listed in the Windows Server Catalog?
Is the server hardware Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2 or later versions of Windows Server operating systems?
Does the server's processor architecture match the operating system and processor architecture validated with the virtualization solution?
Does the virtual machine contain a supported version of Windows Server (Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012,Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP2 or subsequent service packs)?
Are the virtual processors and memory assigned to the virtual machine running Windows Server less than or equal to the maximum processors and memory validated with the virtualization solution?
Does the application vendor support their product in a virtualized environment?
Does the virtualization solution provide abstraction of the hardware necessary for your application to function?
What is the support policy for additional functionality of virtualization products?
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 is not required to be cognizant of such functionality provided by the virtualization product which operates independently of the operating system or application, there is no practical method of testing these virtualization product features.
Thus, the SVVP program does not test these features or functions, and the virtualization product vendor is solely responsible for testing and supporting them. Any certification the virtualization vendor has with regards to these features is outside the scope of the Server Virtualization Validation Program. However, unless otherwise stated in articles or documents for Windows Server operating systems or for Microsoft server applications, Microsoft does not preclude their use by customers. Customers may contact Microsoft for more information in this regard for specific virtualization product features and functions and Microsoft products.
If a customer running a supported version of Windows Server on a validated virtualization solution experiences issues after using 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.