If you are not virtualizing your servers then you are leaving money on the table. I am often asked if every server in an organization is a virtualization candidate, and obviously the answer is NO. However there are a lot of servers that can be virtualized, but are not because we do not believe them to be virtualization candidates. This week one example that came up is Microsoft Exchange Server. Should Exchange always be virtualized? Probably not. Are there cases when you can virtualize Exchange? Absolutely. Should you do it willy-nilly, without good documented guidelines? No.
Netanel Ben-Shushan is a Microsoft MVP in the same competency as I am – Windows Expert-IT Pro. He is from Israel and like me proves that just because the MVP Program recognizes you in one competency does not mean that you might not be a real expert in several others. His white paper – Converting Physical Exchange Server into virtual environment (P2V) – Best Practices & Tips from the field is a must-read reference guide for anyone planning to perform such migrations.
Although the document mostly covers Exchange Server 2007 and 2003, the guidelines will apply to Exchange Server 2010 as well. The document covers virtual environments running on both VMware vSphere 4.1 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V role.
I want to thank Netanel for allowing me to publish it on my blog – now download the file and get migrating!
To download the file in PDF format, click here: Converting Physical Exchange Server into virtual environment (P2V) – Best Practice & Tips from the field
For more information from Netanel, please check out his blog and website:
The World According to Mitch 
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