Should I virtualize SQL Server? What benefits will I see?  What do I need to consider when making this decision?  The short answer is yes – Microsoft Virtualization (Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V + Microsoft System Center) delivers significant benefits including reduced costs through server consolidation and power and space savings, improved server utilization, greater agility for responding to dynamic business needs, rapid server provisioning, reduced management complexity and reduced downtime during failover with Hyper-V Live Migration.  By choosing Microsoft Virtualization with SQL Server, customers benefit from a lower cost solution that is already part of Windows Server and an integrated end to end management solution for both physical and virtual environments. For information on SQL Server including best practices with virtualization: SQL Server Virtualization, SQL Server Licensing Guide, Virtualizing Microsoft Server Applications, and Green IT in Practice: SQL Server Consolidation in Microsoft IT.