This article contains information about running Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) roles on hardware virtualization software. The following Microsoft programs provide this functionality:

• Microsoft Virtual PC
• Microsoft Virtual Server

There are also third-party providers that have software that provides this functionality.

This article describes the Microsoft support policy for running Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 SP1 on hardware virtualization software (virtual machines).

Support policy for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 SP1

Microsoft supports scenarios in which you run Operations Manager 2005 SP1 on hardware virtualization software only when one of the following conditions is true:

• The hardware virtualization operating system is Virtual Server 2005 R2 or a later version.
• The hardware virtualization operating system is Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 or a later version. (This operating system must be used only for demonstrating Operations Manager functionality, not for production environments.)
• The Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Virtual Machine Additions are installed on the guest operating system.

Microsoft does not support the following MOM 2005 SP1 virtualization scenarios:

• A MOM 2005 clustered database role is installed on a virtualized SQL Server.
• A MOM 2005 clustered reporting (data warehouse) role is installed on virtualized a SQL Server.

Performance and scalability considerations

When you plan to deploy MOM 2005 SP1 in a virtualized environment, the same performance and scalability aspects apply when you size each virtual machine for MOM 2005 SP1. Those performance and scalability aspects are described in the following Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Performance and Sizing Guide:However, there are some factors that directly affect the performance and scalability of MOM 2005 SP1 when you run it on Virtual Server 2005 R2. These factors should be considered when you size both the host configurations and the guest configurations.

Virtual machine considerations

• Each virtual machine can have only one virtualized x86-based CPU. This potentially limits the processing power of the virtualized MOM 2005 SP1 installation. Therefore, the server should be sized in such a way that a single CPU can handle its estimated load. Also, the number of virtual machines that are running at the same time on the host computer will affect the overall performance of the whole system. Therefore, consider splitting roles such as Management Server, Operational Database Server, Datawarehouse Database Server, Reporting Server, and Web Console Server over multiple virtual machines. Also consider adding dedicated virtual network adapters between database server roles and management servers.
• When you size the disk capacity of the virtual machine, make sure that you consider the time that is required to perform a full online backup of the data on the Operations Manager database servers (Operational and Datawarehouse) over the network. Specifically, consider adding a dedicated virtual network adapter for Operations Manager Database server backups.
  
  Note Although you can perform an offline backup of the virtual hard disk (.vhd) files at the host level, this does not replace the need for performing a regular SQL Server database backup of Operational and Datawarehouse databases. For more information about Operations Manager backup and restore processes, see the MOM 2005 Operations Guide.
• Create separate fixed-size virtual disks for Operations Manager databases and log files, and store these virtual disks on separate physical drives on the host server.
• Consider using Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager to deploy and manage Operations Manager virtual machines together with the Virtual Machine Manager Management Pack to monitor and assess performance of virtualized operations manager roles.
• Validate Operations Manager performance before production by testing appropriate agent and management pack installations that are compatible with those expected in production.

Host considerations

• Make sure that the server that is running Virtual Server 2005 R2 is sized correctly to handle the number of virtual machines that you plan to deploy. This estimate should include CPU, memory, network adapters, and disk configuration.
• Use a hard disk solution that enables fast access. You can use a SCSI hard disk, a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), or a storage area network (SAN) to store the .vhd files that are used by Operations Manager.
• If antivirus software is installed on the host, make sure that you configure the antivirus software not to scan .vhd files.

Support policy for non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software

Microsoft has a general support policy for running Microsoft software in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. The policy that is described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article also applies to any version of Microsoft Exchange Server that is running on non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software:

For more information about the Microsoft Virtual Server support policy, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Note Operations Manager agent monitoring with Microsoft virtualization software discovers the Virtual Machine property that is set to True when the Operations Manager Agent is installed on a virtual machine. This property remains False when the agent is running on non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software. Unless the third-party vendor supplies a management pack to discover its own virtual machine properties, you may be unable to use Operations Manager console views to differentiate between real and virtualized hardware.

For more information about Virtual Server 2005 R2 performance and scalability, see the Virtual Server 2005 R2 Administrator's Guide. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about MOM 2005 performance and sizing, see the Performance and Sizing Guide. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about how to deploy MOM 2005, see the Deployment Planning Guide and the Deployment Guide. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:For more information about how to back up and restore MOM 2005 roles, see the MOM 2005 Operations Guide. To do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site: