System information

VMware Technical Support Guide
T E C H N I C A L S U P P O R T G U I D E – F E B R U R A R Y 2 0 1 0 / 25
Support Policies
The following sections describe VMware support policies and explain how specific product
versions are supported, compatibility between product releases, compatibility with third party
software versions and support for custom code.
Third-Party Hardware/Software Support
Unless explicitly supported in VMware's Compatibility Guides or any other VMware interoperability
guide, third party hardware and software will be treated as follows:
VMware Global Support Services (GSS) will assist customers in problem analysis to determine whether
or not the technical issue is related to the third-party hardware or software. In order to isolate the issue,
VMware reserves the right to request that the third-party hardware or software be removed. This will
only be done where there is reason to believe the issue is related to the third-party hardware or
software.
If VMware GSS cannot directly identify the root cause or reasonably suspects that the problem is
related to third-party hardware or software, GSS will reach out to third-party vendors based on
established Technical Support Alliance Network (TSANet) or Cooperative Support Agreement (CSA)
relationships to further troubleshoot the issue. If the root cause is believed to originate from a third-party
vendor's product for which VMware does not maintain a cooperative support relationship, it is suggested
the customer open a support request with the third-party vendor's support organization.
Important: Third-party software running within the VMware ESX Service Console must adhere
to the VMware ESX: Third-Party Software in the Service Console technical note.
Support for Microsoft Software in VMware Virtual Machines
Widespread production deployment of VMware virtual infrastructure solutions by enterprises worldwide
leads to inquiries from customers on how they can access technical support for Microsoft operating
systems and applications running on VMware virtual machines. This section summarizes the range of
support options available to VMware customers running licensed Microsoft operating systems and
applications on VMware virtual machines.
Microsoft supports their server products on VMware through the Server Virtualization Validation
Program (SVVP). SVVP is available to all customers through their normal support relationship with
VMware or Microsoft. Any level of support from either vendor (including per call support) is acceptable
to access this option.
SVVP eliminates a significant barrier to adoption for many prospective customers, and makes all our
customers more confident about deploying on VMware.
Microsoft provides the current list of SVVP-certified hypervisors. Products supported by Microsoft
include Windows 2000, Server 2003, and Server 2008 (including all server roles such as file services,
print services and Active Directory). They also include enterprise applications such as Exchange Server
and SQL Server. VMware also has included the official support policy from Microsoft.
Customers running other Microsoft products on a VMware virtual machine still have several options:
1. Any VMware support customer is covered by the VMware Safety Net for Microsoft products. Through
VMware's Premier Agreement with Microsoft, customer issues can be escalated to Microsoft
engineering and pursued jointly. VMware will determine when this approach is appropriate, but has
found that it can produce excellent results in particularly challenging situations.
2. For customers that have a Microsoft Premier-level support agreement, Microsoft will provide
“commercially reasonable efforts” to support any software product running within VMware virtual