Only 64-bit versions of Exchange 2007 are sold (a 32-bit exists but is not sold by Microsoft and was created only for test environments). For their part, the two virtualization software currently marketed by Microsoft (Virtual PC 2007 and Virtual Server 2005 R2) are only able to manage virtual machines in 32-bit (even if the host is 64-bit). It is possible to install a 32-bit test version of Exchange 2007 in a virtual machine but not this version can not be dismissed (because Microsoft only sells licenses for 64-bit product). This is unfortunate because virtualization can reduce hardware costs (eg in the case of a cluster, it might be interesting to create a passive node as a virtual machine while maintaining an active node dedicated).
The arrival of Longhorn Server will change the in virtualization! Indeed the architecture of the next Microsoft server OS has been designed to generalize the creation and production of virtual machines (the system itself is also regarded as a virtual machine). The sub-component used by Longhorn Hypervisor is called and it will bring, among other things, support for 64-bit virtual machines. Therefore, it is possible to production Exchange 2007 as a virtual machine from the time Longhorn will be installed!
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