Novell announced it has joined Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program. As a result of Novell's participation in this program, customers will be able to confidently run Windows Server 2008 as a virtualized guest on top of the Xen hypervisor in SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 and receive cooperative support from either company. Novell is currently running the tests required by the validation process in the Server Virtualization Validation Program, and expects the tests to be completed by August 2008.

Microsoft formally announced the Server Virtualization Validation Program, a new program to enable vendors to validate the combination of Windows Server 2008 as a virtual machine guest running on third party server virtualization solutions. Under the program, vendors will self-test and validate certain technical requirements of their server virtualization software running Windows Server 2008 as a guest operating system.

Through the existing Novell-Microsoft technical collaboration agreement, Novell was an early participant to the Server Virtualization Validation Program and helped Microsoft fine tune many of the parameters of the Server Virtualization Validation Program. This work included helping to define and validate the technical tests and using the joint Microsoft/Novell Interoperability Lab in Cambridge, Mass., as a test-bed resource.

As part of its extensive interoperability agreement with Microsoft, Novell holds a unique position as SUSE Linux Enterprise is currently the only Xen hypervisor on which Microsoft will provide full support today for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 running as a virtual guest. Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program is designed to provide customers with additional peace of mind.

"We continue to hear from customers that they want to run Windows Server 2008 as a virtualized guest on top of SUSE Linux Enterprise," said Carlos Montero-Luque, vice president of product management for Linux and Open Platform Solutions at Novell. "Novell is excited to extend the on-going technical collaboration efforts between Novell and Microsoft to the Server Virtualization Validation Program, which will give customers the performance, security and reliability that comes with running Windows Server 2008 as a virtual guest on SUSE Linux Enterprise."

The Server Virtualization Validation Program defines a set of technical tests that third party virtualization solutions must pass to become validated by Microsoft. The program also enables vendors to validate various configurations so that mutual customers deploying Windows Server on those configurations can receive cooperative technical support in virtualized environments. Customers with validated solutions will benefit from the support provided by Microsoft as a part of the regular Windows Server technical support framework.

"Novell played an important role in helping us architect and fine-tune this program," said Zane Adam, senior director of virtualization strategy, Server and Tools Business, Microsoft Corp. "This is just one more illustration of how Novell and Microsoft are working together to develop interoperable virtualization solutions."