A frequently asked question concerns the support policy regarding running Microsoft Dynamics CRM on various virtualization solutions - whether they're Microsoft virtualization solutions (i.e. Hyper-V) or third-party solutions such as VMware. A comprehensive answer to this question is documented by Microsoft but can sometimes be hard to find with your web search engine of choice (surely Bing!) because it’s spread out across several web pages and Knowledge Base articles. So hopefully this posting will help clarify the situation.
- Microsoft Knowledge Base article 957054: “Support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V” clearly states that both Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Dynamics CRM 2011 are supported when running within Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
- This Knowledge Base article has an important section to read entitled “Support policy for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 on a computer that is running other virtualization solutions”
- This section makes two points you should note:
- “Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and 2011 supports virtualization solutions from vendors who participate in the Microsoft Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP). For more information about this program and about participating vendors, visit the following Windows Server Marketplace Web site http://windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvp.htm”
- Going to the Products page from the above mentioned Marketplace website lists the supported third-party solutions that have participated in the SVVP, including SOME virtualization solution versions from Citrix, Hitachi, Red Hat, Riverbed, Novell, and VMware
- NOTE: Those of you that use Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sure Step methodologies to guide new implementations may notice that some of the Sure Step templates mention that virtualization of CRM application servers is not supported. This is not the case, and the next version of Sure Step will contain templates correctly specifying support for CRM application server virtualization
- “For more information about the Microsoft support policy for SVVP solutions, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 897615: “Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software””
- Knowledge Base article 897615 should be carefully read; these two statements are important to note:
- “For Microsoft customers with Premier-level support running non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software from vendors with which Microsoft does not have an established support relationship that covers virtualization solutions, Microsoft will investigate potential issues with Microsoft software running together with non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software.”
- “As part of the investigation, Microsoft may require the issue to be reproduced by the customer independently from the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. This may be done on Windows Server 2008 (with Hyper-V), the actual hardware platform with the Windows operating system installed directly upon it, or on both. Where issues are confirmed to be unrelated to the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software, Microsoft will support its software in a manner that is consistent with support provided on a server that has passed Microsoft's "Designed for" or "Certified for" testing criteria. For more information about "Designed for" or "Certified for" hardware, please see http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/content.aspx?ctf=logo.htm”
- Knowledge Base article 897615 should be carefully read; these two statements are important to note:
Greg Nichols
Premier Field Engineer - Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft Corporation