Which Microsoft apps are supported (and not) on Windows Azure?
Earlier this week, Microsoft officials announced that Dynamics NAV 2013 and GP 2013 are now available to customers who want to run these apps on Microsoft's Azure cloud in a virtual machine.
Those aren't the only Windows Server apps that run on Azure's recently added persistent VMs. Here's a list from a recent Microsoft TechNet blog post (which mirrors the official Knowledge Base article) as to other specific versions of Microsoft's own server apps that are supported by Microsoft (a k a "Microsoft-validated") as Azure-hosted options:
Microsoft BizTalk Server
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013 and later is supported.
Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager
Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2 SP1 and later is supported.
Microsoft Project Server
Microsoft Project Server 2013 and later is supported.
Microsoft SharePoint Server
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and later is supported on Windows Azure Virtual Machines.
Microsoft SQL Server
64-bit versions of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and later are supported.
Microsoft System Center
System Center 2012 SP1 and later is supported for the following applications:
- App Controller
- Operations Manager
- Orchestrator
- Server Application Virtualization
- Service Manager
Microsoft Team Foundation Server
Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2012 and later is supported.
The blog post also noted some caveats to note regarding specific versions of Windows Server roles and services which are certified by Microsoft as supported and not supported on Windows Azure. Specifically:
Windows Server Roles
Windows Server 2008 R2 and later versions are supported for the following roles. This list will be updated as new roles are confirmed:
- Active Directory Domain Services
- Active Directory Federation Services
- Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
- Application Server
- DNS Server
- File Services
- Network Policy and Access Services
- Print and Document Services
- Web Server (IIS)
- Windows Server Update Services
The following roles are not supported on Windows Azure Virtual Machines:
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Server
- Hyper-V
- Remote Access (Direct Access)
- Windows Deployment Services
The following Windows Server features are not supported by Microsoft on Azure VMs:
- BitLocker Drive Encryption (on the OS disk – may be used on data disks)
- Internet Storage Name Server
- Multipath I/O
- Network Load Balancing
- Peer Name Resolution Protocol
- SNMP Services
- Storage Manager for SANs
- Windows Internet Name Service
- Wireless LAN Service
- Windows Server Failover Clustering, except for SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups.
It's worth noting this is a list of the Microsoft-supported Microsoft apps and services that run on a VM in Azure. Microsoft also is developing and has developed versions of some of these same apps and services that don't need to run in a VM. Examples: SQL Database (the offering formerly known as SQL Azure) and BizTalk Services.
Microsoft announced in April this year that its Linux and Windows Server virtual machines (VMs) on Windows Azure were generally available and ready for deployment. These are the persistent VMs that Microsoft publicly unveiled last June, and which provide users with a way to run existing Linux and Windows Server apps in the Azure cloud without having to completely rewrite them.
Microsoft announced last year that these persistent VMs will allow users to run Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, OpenSUSE 12.1, CentOS 6.2, Ubuntu 12.04 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 and apps built on these Windows Server and Linux variants on Windows Azure.