Red Hat and Microsoft fix server interoperability

The deal between Microsoft and Red Hat has yielded interoperability software

Red Hat and Microsoft have followed up on their virtualisation support deal announced in February with the release of interoperability software for their virtual servers.

The pair have deployed new software that lets Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V host Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 guests.

RHEL 5.4, using the Kernel Virtual Machine hypervisor, can now work with Windows Server 2003, 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 guests.

"IT administrators supporting heterogeneous infrastructures understand the pain of having to deal with multiple independent technical support organisations," said Steve Brasen, principle analyst at Enterprise Management Associates.

"With this announcement, Red Hat and Microsoft are ensuring that customers can resolve any issues related to Windows on Red Hat Enterprise virtualisations, and RHEL operating on Microsoft Hyper-V, regardless of whether the problem is related to the operating system or the virtualisation implementation."

In addition, Microsoft products certified on Windows Server and Red Hat products certified on RHEL are also supported. The two companies will run a joint support operation.

"We are happy to offer our customers added choice and interoperability in virtualisation - the ability to deploy mixed virtualisation environments with Red Hat and Microsoft platforms - with co-ordinated support by both companies," said Mike Evans, vice president of corporate development at Red Hat.