Getting support for for Virtualized Microsoft environments is a tough gig when you don’t have Premier Support.  More so with the numbers of customers I have virtualizing Exchange 2007. 

I reckon I’ve memorised KB 897615 word for word –  But interop and support are very dear to my (sometimes bitter and twisted) heart, and a story for another time  =)

Anyway, I’m hoping that [all vendor] virtualized support will change with the RTM of Hyper-V   …but until then I’d like refer all those beautiful people running VMware in production to the following VMware URL, Support for Microsoft Software in VMware Virtual Machines, an edited snippet is below:

The support options vary, depending on how customers purchase the VMware and Microsoft software.  For customers who purchase:

  1. OEM VMware products with Dell hardware and Dell Gold Enterprise Support or Dell ProSupport, the vendor provides end-to-end support—including the VMware software and certified Microsoft operating systems that are run within virtual machines.

  2. VMware products with Fujitsu hardware and a Fujitsu SupportDesk agreement, Fujitsu provides end-to-end support – including the VMware software and licensed Microsoft software run within virtual machines.

  3. OEM VMware products with Fujitsu-Siemens PRIMERGY hardware and OEM Gold/Platinum SNS support, the vendor provides end-to-end support – including the VMware software and licensed certified Microsoft operating systems that are run within virtual machines and covered by a respective Service Contract.

  4. VMware products bundled with HP hardware and/or HP Services (Consulting & Integration & HP Outsourcing) and have a current HP support and subscription agreement on VMware and Microsoft, HP provides end-to-end support — including the VMware software and any licensed Microsoft software that is run within virtual machines.

  5. VMware products with IBM hardware and an IGS support agreement, IBM provides end-to-end support – including the VMware software and licensed Microsoft software run within virtual machines.

  6. OEM VMware products with Unisys hardware and Unisys Gold or Platinum Support, the vendor provides end-to-end support – including the VMware software and certified Microsoft operating systems that run within virtual machines.

  7. VMware products directly (or from an authorized reseller) and who have a Microsoft Premier-level support agreement, Microsoft will provide “commercially reasonable efforts” to support its software running within VMware virtual machines…

  8. VMware products directly (or from an authorized reseller) and who do not have a Microsoft Premier-level support agreement, Microsoft’s level of support is more restrictive. Microsoft support specialists may request that customers first replicate the issue on a physical machine. Item #897615 in Microsoft’s Knowledge Base describes this policy http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/897615.

Hopefully this will help spread that "virtualized lovin’" until something better comes along.