Microsoft Virtualization In Depth

On 29 January 2010, Microsoft made available for download  the Integration Components for Linux Version 2.

Supported Linux operating systems

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 x86 and x64 (1 vCPU)
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x86 and x64 (1 vCPU)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 x86 and x64 (1 vCPU)

Supported drivers

• Synthetic Network Controller
• Synthetic Storage Controller

Supported host operating systems

• Windows Server® 2008 Standard, Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise, and Windows Server® 2008 Datacenter (64-bit versions only)
• Microsoft® Hyper-V Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V RTM (Build 7600) Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter
• Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 RTM (Build 7600) 

Support Method

• By e-mail at linuxic@microsoft.com

Unsupported Features

• Operating System Shutdown
• Time Synchronization
• Data Exchange
• Heartbeat
• Volume Snapshot Backup
• Jumbo Frames and TCP Offload
• Hot Add/Remove (VHD and Pass-through)

This version does provide support for Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V, allowing boot devices to take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.

While server consolidation along with test and development environments may have been the initial drivers for IT to turn to virtualization solutions, VDI is fast emerging as the next area where IT hopes to use virtualization in an effort to transform lugubrious user infrastructure into more dynamic and less costly to manage environments. The number and types of VDI solutions have been growing steadily, and Microsoft has joined the fray by refining their own local and centralized desktop virtualization solutions. More on these solutions in upcoming posts, but in the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about Microsoft desktop virtualization solutions, check out the Microsoft Virtualization Desktop Hour event on March 18 at 11 am CDT (9 am PDT).