Oracle Database Virtualization

Oracle Virtualization Version 11.2.0.3

General Information
Purpose	Vitualization is a great concept. Occassionally it also actually has value in practice. The point of this page in the library is not to tout the value of Oracle VM (OVM) which now with Version 3+ is turning into something decent, or to say nice things about IBM's VPars and other virtualization technologies whose origins go back to the old IBM 370 mainframe days ... perhaps earlier. Nor is the purpose to slam EMC's VMWare products for their total inadequacy as a production database environment. Rather it is to point out the obvious to anyone wishing to visit this page and read it. The following is taken, verbatim, from Oracle Support. Emphasis on specific points is mine.

Support Position for Oracle Products Running on VMWare Virtualized Environments [ID 249212.1]
Purpose Explain to customers how Oracle supports our products when running on VMware Scope & Application For Customers running Oracle products on VMware virtualized environments. No limitation on use or distribution. Support Status for VMware Virtualized Environments Oracle has not certified any of its products on VMware virtualized environments. Oracle Support will assist customers running Oracle products on VMware in the following manner: Oracle will only provide support for issues that either are known to occur on the native OS, or can be demonstrated not to be as a result of running on VMware. If a problem is a known Oracle issue, Oracle support will recommend the appropriate solution on the native OS. If that solution does not work in the VMware virtualized environment, the customer will be referred to VMware for support. When the customer can demonstrate that the Oracle solution does not work when running on the native OS, Oracle will resume support, including logging a bug with Oracle Development for investigation if required. If the problem is determined not to be a known Oracle issue, we will refer the customer to VMware for support. When the customer can demonstrate that the issue occurs when running on the native OS, Oracle will resume support, including logging a bug with Oracle Development for investigation if required. NOTE: Oracle has not certified any of its products on VMware. For Oracle RAC, Oracle will only accept Service Requests as described in this note on Oracle RAC 11.2.0.2 and later releases.