Lync Server 2010 is supported in a virtualized environment. The validated hypervisor can be Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V or VMWare ESX 4.0, or any virtual environment that meets “Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program” at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=200511.

Microsoft have published a white paper with full details of the support of virtuaization
Lync Server enables the following workloads to be virtualized:

A mixed pool of Front End servers comprising virtual and physical servers is not supported.

A single VM host with direct attached storage configuration.
Small VM host configuration diagram
























Recommended networking:
·         Dual network adapter/host: 1 network adapter reserved for host access, 1+ network adapter for shared VM guest application workload.
·         network adapter speed: 1 GbE or 10 GbE (VMQ)
Recommended storage:
·         Dedicated spindle for VM host, as well as a dedicated spindle for each VM guest virtual drive
Not recommended:
·         100 Mbps network adapters
·         Single network adapter (for VM host and VM guest application workload)
·         Shared spindles between host and guests, or between guests


Virtual Standard  Edition Deployment

The most interesting deployment is a single virtual host with all roles required for a full implementation for 2000 users.

All virtual Standard Edition deployment, single Standard Edition server, with Archiving and Monitoring, SQL Server (Archiving and Monitoring), Edge Server (VLAN configuration to perimeter network)
Scale: 2K users, default usage profile, all modalities


Lync Server Role
Features
Physical
Virtual


CPU
Memory
User
CPU
Memory
User
Enterprise Edition Front End Server
IM&P
8 core
12 GB
20K
4 core
10 GB
12.5K
Enterprise Edition Front End Server
IM&P, AS, AV, EV
8 core
16 GB
5K
4 core
16 GB
2.5K
Enterprise Edition Front End Server
IM&P, AS, EV
(8 Front End pool)
8 core
12 GB
10K
4 core
11 GB
5K
Enterprise Edition Front End Server
IM&P, AS, EV
(single Front End Server in pool)
8 core
12 GB
7K
4 core
11 GB
4K
Standard Edition Front End Server
IM&P
8 core
16  GB
25K
4 core
12 GB
12.5K
Standard Edition Front End Server
IM&P, AS, AV, EV
8 core
16 GB
5K
4 core
16 GB
2.5K
Director
Reg
4 core
4 GB
20K
4 core
4 GB
10K
Monitor/Archiving Server

8 core
16 GB
230K
4 core
8 GB
110K
A/V Conferencing Server
AV
8 core
16 GB
20K
4 core
11 GB
10K
Mediation Server*
MS
8 core
16 GB
800 concurrent calls
4 core
10 GB
400 concurrent calls
Edge Server
AP, DP   MR
8 core
16 GB
15K
4 core
8 GB
7.5K
Survivable Branch Server
Reg, MS
2 core
2 GB
1K
2 core
2 GB
1K
SQL Server Back End Server (FE)

8 core
32 GB
80K
4 core
16 GB
40K
SQL Backend (M/A)

8 core
16 GB
230K
4 core
12 GB
115K
File Server

4 core
4 GB
80K
2 core
3 GB
40K