Support for the vCenter database running on a SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Group?

[Bill_Oyler]

I run into this question a lot, especially now that folks are deploying more and more SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups.  Does VMware support the vCenter database running on a SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Group?  I know that vCenter 5.5 now supports SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Failover Clustering (with a shared LUN in RDM mode), but I can't find any support statements regarding SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups, which make use of Microsoft's replication technology rather than shared LUNs.  Does anyone know if VMware has an official statement on this configuration for vCenter?  (Also for extra credit, how about Update Manager, SRM, and the VMware View Events database?)

Thanks,

Bill

[znip · Accepted solution]

No. They do not.

kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1024051

What's worse is that no mater what your support contract says, you only get 'best effort support' for your environment.

[admin]

If you are running in an unsupported (being the keyword here) environment configuration you can actually be quite happy to at least get "best effort" support and not being sent to a reinstall directly, don't you agree?

[Bill_Oyler]

Yes, the wording on the KB article is actually better than I expected.  VMware doesn't say that third-party HA solutions for SQL are "unsupported" but rather "not certified" by VMware.  I also like the fact that they will provide "best effort" support.  So basically unless they conclude that the problem was specifically caused by SQL AlwaysOn (for example) it seems as though they will provide best effort support.  This seems like a reasonable policy since they can't be held accountable for issues introduced by third-party HA solutions.  Thanks for the info, guys!