Unique features of Virtual Server

To support the requirements of an enterprise environment, Virtual Server provides features that are not available (or needed) in Virtual PC. This section describes those features as well as the operating systems that Virtual Server supports.
Supported operating systems
For Virtual Server, supported host and guest operating systems are all server operating systems, except for Windows XP Professional, which is supported as a host operating system.
The following are the supported host operating systems:
• Windows Server 2003 (Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions)
• Windows Small Business Server (Standard and Premium Editions)
• Windows XP Professional
Note:
You should use Microsoft Windows XP Professional as a host operating system only in a non-production environment.
Supported guest operating systems include those just listed, plus the following:
• Windows 2000 Server, all editions except Enterprise
• Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition SP6a
See the Virtual Server documentation for more information.
Note:
The beta version of Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) includes support for x64-based versions of Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
Administration
• Remote management. You can administer Virtual Server remotely by using the Web-based Administration Web site. You can also access and administer virtual machines remotely by using Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC).
• Scripted management. You can manage Virtual Server and its virtual machines by using the Component Object Model (COM) application programming interface (API). For more information, see the Virtual Server Programmer’s Guide included with the product.
• WMI integration. Virtual Server provides Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) counters to the host operating system. These counters can be integrated into a non-Microsoft management solution, or they can be passed to Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) for monitoring and alerting.
• Compatibility with Windows Server System management products. You can use Windows Server System products such as Automated Deployment Services (ADS), Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 to deploy and manage virtual machines. A MOM management pack is available for Virtual Server 2005.
• Delegated administration. With Virtual Server, you can delegate administration and provide secure, authenticated guest access.
• System event logging. Virtual Server logs events on the host operating system event log. Logged events can be integrated into a non-Microsoft management solution, or passed to MOM for alerting. Virtual Server can also send event notices—such as when a virtual machine session stops functioning—to external scripts.
Scalability
• SCSI support. Virtual Server supports virtual SCSI drives up to 2 terabytes in size.
• Host multiprocessor support. Virtual Server scales across multiple processors on the host computer—up to 32. Each running virtual machine can take advantage of up to one CPU. For example, on a 32-processor host computer, you could allocate your CPU capacity so that 31 simultaneously running virtual machines would each use up to one CPU, leaving a CPU free for the host operating system.
• Multithreading. Virtual Server 2005 is a multithreaded application that runs as a system service, with each virtual machine running in its own thread of execution. In contrast, Virtual PC is a single-threaded application in which all simultaneously running virtual machines run on the same processor.
• Large RAM support. Virtual Server supports up to 3.6 gigabytes (GB) of RAM per virtual machine.
Security
• Support for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security. For access to the Administration Web site and the Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC) client, Virtual Server supports SSL security, as well as NTLM and Kerberos V5 authentication.
• Configurable user context for virtual machines. By default, a virtual machine runs under the account of the user who turned it on. For added security, you can configure each virtual machine to run under a specified user account. Virtual machine scripts can also run under this account. The account must be configured before virtual machine scripts can run, however.
Resource management
• Flexible memory and CPU allocation. Virtual Server supports flexible memory configuration and dynamic CPU resource allocation for each virtual machine.
Other enterprise features
• Virtual networking. With Virtual Server, you can create an unlimited number of virtual networks, each with its own virtual Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. You can also configure Domain Name System (DNS) and Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) servers, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and IP address lease time.
• Two-node clustering. Virtual Server provides simple two-node failover from one virtual machine to another. You can use this feature for testing and development only; it is not supported for use in a production environment.
Note:
The beta version of Virtual Server 2005 SP1 supports creating a Microsoft Cluster Service cluster that uses shared storage on iSCSI and includes from two to eight virtual machines.