Hyper-V-active Exchange

As most folks have already seen, Hyper-V - the newest Microsoft Virtual Server Solution - released to market yesterday.  This is a pretty big step forward for MSFT, adding a datacenter-ready virtualization solution to the Server 2008 platform.

I'm doing a little research now on the Exchange front with Hyper-V, but I was able to get an un-named source (ooooh spooooky) from MSFT to confirm that some MSFT Exchange 2007 servers at their facilities are running on Hyper-V, so support on that platform will most likely be forthcoming.  More info on this front as I can get my hands on it.

From the limited contact I've had with the betas, I can safely say that this product is a different animal than Virtual Server 2005.  The overall performance in both the Host and Guest components has ratcheted up by a factor of multiples, The management interface is also re-designed to allow for more fine-tuned control over the vitalized systems, and cluster support means the ability to move VM's between hosts is built-in.

We're still in the very early stages of this technology, so expect more reports as I run into it more and more in the field.  Within a short period of time, I'm also going to get to put Exchange 2007 through its paces on Hyper-V, and I'll be happy to report on that too!

It goes without saying that Double-Take is going to be supporting Hyper-V in the very near future with some amazing tool sets.  If course we can already replicate and fail over Exchange from Physical or Virtual (of any flavor) into a Hyper-V VM, but keep your eyes peeled to find out what new stuff we're working on over here especially for the Hyper-V platform.