Recently one of my customer would like to know about compatibility running Windows Server 2012 on Vmware Hypervisor.
Well , here is the Q and A based on my findings:-
Q1. Which version of VMware hypervisor is fully supported to run Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8?
A: Windows Server 2012 fully supported only on
- ESXi 5.1 and ESXi 5.0 U1 and ESXi 5.0 U2. You must install patch ESXi500-201209001(Patch 04) on ESXi 5.0 U1.
- vSphere 5.1
Supported documents:-
-
VMware ESXi 5.0, Patch Release ESXi500-201209001 (2032584)
- Windows Server 2012 Operating System does not boot or install on ESXi or ESX 2006859)
- Guest OS Install Guide : Windows Server 2012
Q2. Can I use an older version of Vmware vSphere or ESX to run Windows Server 2012?
A:- No.
Q3. What is my option to run Windows Server 2012 guest VM?
A: Upgrade Vmware version to supported version which listed in Q1.
Q4. I would like to perform Active Directory snapshot. Windows Server 2012 has feature called “VM-Generation ID” which allow hypervisor vendor to expose a virtual machine identifier that Windows Server 2012 domain controllers can use to detect the state of a virtual machine and trigger new Active Directory safeguards. These safeguards protect the Active Directory from the dreaded USN roll-back if a virtual machine is reverted to a snapshot or rolled back by other mechanisms. Can I have this feature on Vmware hypervisor?
A: Yes. Your hypervisor need to be at least:
- VMware vSphere 5.0 Update 2 (vCenter Server and ESXi must both be at 5.0 Update 2)
- VMware vSphere 5.1 (ESXi must be at least 5.0 Update 2)
Supported documents:-
Q5. Is Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering supported in Vmware vSphere 5.1?
A. No. The document below pointed that
Well, in short, despite VMware claiming that vSphere 5.1 is compatible with Windows Server 2012, it is NOT. Fundamental functionality does not work within vSphere and VMware is misleading customers trying to provide guest high availability for critical workloads.
Fundamental functionality does not work within vSphere and VMware is misleading customers trying to provide guest high availability for critical workloads.
For other Vmware version and different types of application support on clustering, please refer to here.
Supported document:-
-
Microsoft Clustering on VMware vSphere: Guidelines for Supported Configurations (1037959) –based on updated April 22 , 2013
- VMware vSphere 5.1 Release Notes
Q6. What is my option due to Q5 issue and I would like to setup Windows Server 2012 Clustering?
A: Deploy Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. Microsoft Hyper-V is systematically created, developed, tested and runs Microsoft production workloads at global scale for both internal and external IT resources.
“Hyper-V is the preferred virtualization platform for Microsoft products”.
