Exchange 2003 on VMWare

17 Apr 2009 8:15 PM

Bob

I'm considering running Exchange 2003 on a 2U rack server, such as Dell
PowerEdge 2850, using VMWare. I plan to run other applications, such as
print services, on the same h/w using VMWare.

Anyone else doing this? Any experiences/comments/Dos and Don'ts greatly
appreciated.

Thank you,
Bob

17 Apr 2009 11:52 PM

Ed Crowley [MVP]

Lots of people do it. Have you reviewed Microsoft's supportability
statement KB to ensure that you're not breaking any rules? Are you sure
that your machine has sufficient capacity for the load?

--
Ed Crowley MVP
"There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
..

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"Bob" <B**@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A30B6174-19ED-48C1-9C23-E381E4EB1A22@microsoft.com...
> I'm considering running Exchange 2003 on a 2U rack server, such as Dell
> PowerEdge 2850, using VMWare. I plan to run other applications, such as
> print services, on the same h/w using VMWare.
>
> Anyone else doing this? Any experiences/comments/Dos and Don'ts greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
> Bob

20 Apr 2009 12:39 AM

Martin Blackstone [MVP]

MS doesnâ€™t support 2003 in a virtual machine. 2007 only.
That said I run my Exchange server on ESX.

To the poster, where are you going to store the mail? Runing VMWare and a
bunch of apps and then keeping the mailbox stores on the local disk is
probably going to be quite painful.

Show quoteHide quote

"Ed Crowley [MVP]" <curspice@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:OPfjZe7vJHA.3504@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Lots of people do it. Have you reviewed Microsoft's supportability
> statement KB to ensure that you're not breaking any rules? Are you sure
> that your machine has sufficient capacity for the load?
> --
> Ed Crowley MVP
> "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
> .
>
> "Bob" <B**@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A30B6174-19ED-48C1-9C23-E381E4EB1A22@microsoft.com...
>> I'm considering running Exchange 2003 on a 2U rack server, such as Dell
>> PowerEdge 2850, using VMWare. I plan to run other applications, such as
>> print services, on the same h/w using VMWare.
>>
>> Anyone else doing this? Any experiences/comments/Dos and Don'ts greatly
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Bob
>

20 Apr 2009 5:29 PM

Phil Angus

Yes, I run my Exchange server 2003 Standard Technet copy on a VM with
ESX3.5. No problems whatsoever. I have created virtual disks to conform to
the ususal seperate disks for logs and databases etc just to keep it tidy. I
do all my testing for service packs and maintenance on this. I don't see any
issues at all with what you want to do, especially if the hardware is
supports by VMware.

Phil

Show quoteHide quote

"Martin Blackstone [MVP]" <mart***@myrealbox.com> wrote in message
news:umGA4BVwJHA.1088@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> MS doesn't support 2003 in a virtual machine. 2007 only.
> That said I run my Exchange server on ESX.
>
> To the poster, where are you going to store the mail? Runing VMWare and a
> bunch of apps and then keeping the mailbox stores on the local disk is
> probably going to be quite painful.
>
> "Ed Crowley [MVP]" <curspice@nospam.net> wrote in message
> news:OPfjZe7vJHA.3504@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Lots of people do it. Have you reviewed Microsoft's supportability
>> statement KB to ensure that you're not breaking any rules? Are you sure
>> that your machine has sufficient capacity for the load?
>> --
>> Ed Crowley MVP
>> "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
>> .
>>
>> "Bob" <B**@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:A30B6174-19ED-48C1-9C23-E381E4EB1A22@microsoft.com...
>>> I'm considering running Exchange 2003 on a 2U rack server, such as Dell
>>> PowerEdge 2850, using VMWare. I plan to run other applications, such as
>>> print services, on the same h/w using VMWare.
>>>
>>> Anyone else doing this? Any experiences/comments/Dos and Don'ts greatly
>>> appreciated.
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>> Bob
>>