Red Hat Enters Virtualization Support Agreement with Microsoft
U.S. Linux vendor Red Hat has entered a cooperation agreement with Microsoft in technical support of server virtualization.
Customers running Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualization now have joint technical support from the two companies. Red Hat has committed to participate in Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program. Reciprocally, Microsoft has joined Red Hat's Virtualization Certification Program and will be listed on the Red Hat Certification List once Microsoft completes the certification process.
The newly formed partners emphasize that the arrangement is in no way like Microsoft's partnering with Novell. The Microsoft-Novell deal goes much deeper and involves technical collaboration, licensing and patent protection.
For Microsoft, Red Hat still remains a competing platform provider despite the support arrangement. In fact, Microsoft's GM of virtualization Mike Neil emphasizes that "these agreements do not include any patent or other IP licensing rights." Both companies also assure customers that their cooperation has no effect on their previous agreements with virtualization specialist VMware.
As a first step, the two companies will enter each other's validation phases, results of which will be posted to their respective websites during the course of the year, for Red Hat and Microsoft.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.