Server 2016 in place upgrade?

[ADMaster]

I've found a few quirks with the upgrade process, and want clarification before I proceed.

 

This VM is currently running 2012 R2 Standard. I chose the Server 2016 standard option when attempting an upgrade. The in place upgrade was grayed out because it thinks I am installing a different edition then what is currently installed.

 

I went back and selected datacenter and I was able to choose keep my files and settings. However I got a warning that in place upgrade is not recommended, see attached.

 

I thought MS was trying to improve and push for in place upgrades.

 

Now this is just a test VM and I have a check point so no worries here, but what is the recommended path for production servers.

 

The server with the most configuration work is my SCCM / SQL I just don't have the hardware to stand up a new one and migrate.

 

Is this just a standard disclaimer from MS or what is the recommend path for various roles?

 

I'm interested in the new features of Hyper-v and SCVMM but SCVMM 2016 requires server 2016.

 

Thank you,

[kevin_lane]

From look of it I think it's just ms covering there own backs I'm sure the inpace upgrade will be OK but only way try is by doing

[3s-gtech]

Inplace upgrading isn't bad in my experience, but it depends on the server. A DC or Exchange box - no. A Hyper-V host - no idea, guess it'd be okay if you can shift the VMs to another host during the upgrade. Backups and snapshots at the ready!

[Michael]

It would probably make more sense to start with a clean Hyper-V host, then import your VMs one by one and then upgrade them in turn too.

 

Updating a Hyper-V host logically should be OK though, as it's all MS software at this point.

[ADMaster]

I upgraded this VM just fine, it was only running IPAM.

 

I'll have to make plenty of backups and plans for major production servers like Hyper-V and sccm.

[mukz]

I never do in-place upgrades, never been a fan, i usually convert to hyper v and then fresh install everything on the box, we only have a dc physically plus two clustered hyperv hosts

[victory2012]

for some reason i cannot get sims working on 2016 just double click and nothing appears!

[kevin_lane]

Check uac and the connect.ini file

[Tefters]

I upgraded 2008 r2 to 2012 r2 and found some nibbling issues I could never resolve but these were with VMware, a DC VM and VMXNet3 adapter where it would never restore from Veeam with the NIC installed meaning I could never log into it however another DC I upgraded was fine. The issue was down to a VMXNet3 patch from Microsoft but was only available for 2008 r2 not 2012 r2 so I was stuck in a loophole. Did a new DC in the end and all was fine.

I upgraded a good 6 other VM's without issue however services like RRAS do not retain settings so will need setting up again from scratch.

 

In short - In place upgrade is OK however migration is always best. Just be prepared for the odd nibbling issue or reconfiguration

[Davit2005]

Never done an inplace OS upgrade on a server in production environment. I'd certainly agree never to do Exchange or a DC. It is easy enough to transfer DC roles to another server. Use different names for the new DC's but keep IP addresses if you need reference for DNS settings (done this more than once) .

[Sagima]

In-place upgrading is a lot better than before seems to basically installs the new windows, leaves the old one in windows.old and copies the registry over to the new one (probably remaps some things).

I'm happy having it done it 2012-2012r2 for my DCs (i'v updated DCs* from 2008r2 to 2012 to 2012r2 and I'll be updating them to 2016 this week or next), File and Hyper-V servers (2012 to 2012r2).

Exchange and sql don't support having their OS upgraded so I haven't even tried.

SCCM supports inplace os upgrades from 2012 to 2012r2 though so I've done that without issue as well.

 

*Upgrade Paths were 2008R2 > 2012 > 2012R2 - new server - 2012R2 > 2016

[Blue_Cookeh]

I wouldn't in place upgrade on our DCs or other servers, but 2008R2 > 2012R2 > 2016 has been smooth as butter on our Hyper-V hosts

[datar_]

Do a bare metal backup and be brave (Sounding a bit Gun-ho)

[Tefters]

Do a bare metal backup and be brave (Sounding a bit Gun-ho)

 

Nah that's the smart man's move. Back it up and then yeeha!

 

I upgraded both our DC's 2 years ago from 2008r2 to 2012r2 with 0 issues. Did a few other server after that with very few issues other than minor config inputs again. Then went and did MS Lync 2013, fcuked up royally :whoo:so just restored via a Veeam one-click restore and 30 minutes later VOULA! working server and phone system again.

 

In-place upgrade does work well, Migration is obviously best if you have the time and resources to do it. I personally as a rule of thumb though would not in-place upgrade more than twice.

 

Having migrated to DC's to 2016 already within a day including the RDS Licensing + AD Certificates roles and built new RDS Session host server on 2016 i'm ready to in-place upgrade a few servers tonight, simply click upgrade and walk out the office, check them tomorrow morning via remote desktop and if they fail just roll them back, of-course i would of triggered a backup before hand.

[3s-gtech]

Anyone running Exchange willing to try? It'll break spectacularly, but would still be interesting to see what happens (perhaps on an isolated VM). I would, but our Exchange server is a beast and I already broke it comprehensively yesterday, so going to leave it alone now!

[Tefters]

Anyone running Exchange willing to try? It'll break spectacularly, but would still be interesting to see what happens (perhaps on an isolated VM). I would, but our Exchange server is a beast and I already broke it comprehensively yesterday, so going to leave it alone now!

 

Yeah I wouldn't, I tried out of laziness 2 years back from exchange 2010 on 2008r2 to 2012r2 and it went royally south, I then just restored and migrated to a new 2012r2 server running Exchange 2013 which i've then since shifted to Hybrid exchange and off-loaded the lot to Office 365

 

2 Microsoft products i definitely would not in place upgrade, Exchange and Lync/Skype for Business.

[3s-gtech]

Yeah I haven't that long upgraded Lync to SfB on the server - it's a bit of a beast, and it's tied in to our Office Web Apps and Exchange servers in a neat and tight triangle - I'd need to upgrade Exchange and OWA next. Thankfully it doesn't manage our phones at all, it's just for video conferencing and messaging.

[Tefters]

Yeah I haven't that long upgraded Lync to SfB on the server - it's a bit of a beast, and it's tied in to our Office Web Apps and Exchange servers in a neat and tight triangle - I'd need to upgrade Exchange and OWA next. Thankfully it doesn't manage our phones at all, it's just for video conferencing and messaging.

 

Farm it all out to Office 365 mate, its free, you get shed loads of resources back, don't have to worry about backup or DR

[3s-gtech]

Not the slightest chance, at least yet. I like managing/being able to manage them myself, our internet connection isn't reliable (or fast) enough, and I don't want to host anything critical on someone else's infrastructure. Plus, the requirements for SSO mean changing our account suffixes and merging two domains, which is major work!

 

Back on topic. When you upgrade your servers, do you go all out - get everything onto the latest version at once? I tend to do it over twelve months or so, starting with less critical servers as I don't trust MS software straight from release now!

[Michael]

Not the slightest chance, at least yet. I like managing/being able to manage them myself, our internet connection isn't reliable (or fast) enough, and I don't want to host anything critical on someone else's infrastructure. Plus, the requirements for SSO mean changing our account suffixes and merging two domains, which is major work!

 

Back on topic. When you upgrade your servers, do you go all out - get everything onto the latest version at once? I tend to do it over twelve months or so, starting with less critical servers as I don't trust MS software straight from release now!

 

Account suffixes is easy - create the suffix and bulk change users in AD. I agree merging domains is more complicated.

[Tefters]

Michael beat me to it.

Suffixes are piss and can be done in minutes and affects nothing. Domain merge is a bit meh but not that much of a ballache if planned right.

Anyways...

 

Depends what you mean by everything, all software on 1 server or all server OS's?

 

I just do them as and when I get time. For example DC's are obviously piss easy to stand up and join, setup DNS and DHCP and then just move the FSMO roles. Other non-critical servers are a quick in place upgrade or migration when no-one's looking.

Crucial servers I tend to plan a timeline and do final swing overnight.

 

So in short - I do them as and when I get time or are bored or need a change from mundane tasks...

[ITGURU]

Always a clean start here for both servers and workstations. Clears out all the rubbish and can start clean, then migrate settings etc across. usually i'm doing an Exchange, IIS or other migration at same time anyway so always good to start clean.

 

Always have a spare physical server on-line if needed to temporarily migrate. I have done a p2v in the past for web server before crashing physical server for OS install of new version.

[Oaktech]

Anyone running Exchange willing to try? It'll break spectacularly, but would still be interesting to see what happens (perhaps on an isolated VM). I would, but our Exchange server is a beast and I already broke it comprehensively yesterday, so going to leave it alone now!

 

I've got one I'm migrating to O365 at christmas... I might do the migration, disconnect the network adapter in the VM settings and see what happens!

[ITGURU]

I've got one I'm migrating to O365 at christmas... I might do the migration, disconnect the network adapter in the VM settings and see what happens!

 

Exchange is always interesting! I've done several exchange migrations including Cross Forest with Layer 3 networking with different IP subnets from 2 exchange systems to a single one, plus migrations between the versions. I'm always very careful with lots of preparation and not changing too much at once.

[3s-gtech]

Michael beat me to it.

Suffixes are piss and can be done in minutes and affects nothing. Domain merge is a bit meh but not that much of a ballache if planned right.

 

Creating the extra suffix and assigning it is easy, but we have quite a few things that I just know will break spectacularly if we do this, including SfB and our ID portal! It'll need to be well planned and checked over, but cheers.