HyperV Machines - Which Server Version

[garethEds]

Morning All,

 

Our HyperV cluster is now updated to 2019 and has been stable since Monday - so I'm happy the project was a success. Now comes the job of updating all the virtual machines. Some are 2012r2 and some are 2016, but would we benefit from upgrading all of our virtual machines to 2019?

 

Am I right in thinking 2019 hosts work better with 2019 virtual machines or doesn't it really matter?

 

What is the general thinking? Do services like MDT and WSUS work better now on 2019 than they do on 2012r2 or 2016?

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

[mavhc]

WDS doesn't work on 2012r2 for a start, that weird deny permissions when using UEFI.

WSUS is pretty much dead, use Update Compliance

 

MS want you to use InTune so MDT probably isn't a high priority.

 

Wouldn't bet on any of them working better on 2019 when 99% of MS's efforts are in Azure now.

[themightymrp]

WDS doesn't work on 2012r2 for a start, that weird deny permissions when using UEFI.

 

Not sure what you mean by that? Is that just when using a 2012R2 VM on 2019 hosts? Because our MDT and WDS system runs on 2012R2 just fine, but we don't use 2019 hosts.

[bushby]

I would say look at what are the benefits of upgrading the systems. I would say ensure that your running powershell 5+ as then you can use Windows admin center. Just an update for 2012 R2 as we also done the same this week.

@Mavch what's up with Wds and wsus both are under laying for sccm and all work fine on 2012 +

[DJ-1701]

WDS doesn't work on 2012r2 for a start, that weird deny permissions when using UEFI.

WSUS is pretty much dead, use Update Compliance

 

MS want you to use InTune so MDT probably isn't a high priority.

 

Wouldn't bet on any of them working better on 2019 when 99% of MS's efforts are in Azure now.

 

Odd, I have WDS working on 2012R2 which builds UEFI machines fine. Maybe this was a bug that they long since fixed in an update?

Also, WSUS is still used, including by SCCM setups to obtain updates.

 

InTune doesn't support traditional programs, just apps so sticking with SCCM here (with MDT integrated).

 

I am looking to upgrade all the servers in the Primary in December/January to 2019 anyway, as this will always add new features and *should* provide better support for Microsoft applications.

 

Has anyone thought about using Ubuntu?

Edited October 31, 2019 by DJ-1701

[sparkeh]

Not sure what you mean by that? Is that just when using a 2012R2 VM on 2019 hosts? Because our MDT and WDS system runs on 2012R2 just fine, but we don't use 2019 hosts.

Not sure about any of it.

 

• WDS is fine on 2012r2
  
• WSUS isn't dead
  
• Whilst MS are heading toward InTune, MDT is still very much supported.
  

[garethEds]

WDS doesn't work on 2012r2 for a start, that weird deny permissions when using UEFI.

WSUS is pretty much dead, use Update Compliance

 

MS want you to use InTune so MDT probably isn't a high priority.

 

Wouldn't bet on any of them working better on 2019 when 99% of MS's efforts are in Azure now.

 

Bit of a negative post here @mavhc - and it doesn't really answer my question.

 

Our MDT/WDS is working just fine on 2012r2 and has been for a while now. Quite a while too.

 

WSUS is fine and working without any issues - for Windows 10 etc.

 

Not everyone will go towards inTune so Microsoft would be a bit dull to do this. I'm sure they are not that dull.

 

So - back to the original question....

 

Gareth

[mavhc]

WDS bug was known about at least 5 years ago, no fix = no one cares

 

https://fleexlab.blogspot.com/2015/02/obscure-wds-bug-with-joining-domains-on.html

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/o-s-deployment/134190-very-odd-uefi-clients-not-naming-joining-domain-older-clients-fine.html

 

Microsoft are pretty clear on where they're focusing their development, and it's not Windows Server or anything that uses it.

[PlantHead]

To be honest I haven't found that big a difference going from Server 2016 to 2019 - 2019 feels like a feature update for server 2016.

In fact I think you can only update your Domain functional level to 2016.

WSUS/MDT etc. are all basically the same as on 2016

 

I would leave the 2016 machines alone unless you feel a pressing urge to upgrade them, or have the time.

The 2012 servers I would upgrade to 2019 to keep them in support.

[jtotheb]

 

Our MDT/WDS is working just fine on 2012r2 and has been for a while now. Quite a while too.

 

 

In that situation WDS is most likely only providing PXE boot and possibly multicast support for MDT. If you're not using WDS as the deployment platform and approving machines in WDS you wouldn't be aware of it. I hope that clears it up.

[garethEds]

In that situation WDS is most likely only providing PXE boot and possibly multicast support for MDT. If you're not using WDS as the deployment platform and approving machines in WDS you wouldn't be aware of it. I hope that clears it up.

 

Cheers Pal - it does indeed.

 

Gareth

[themightymrp]

Ahh, makes sense. We are only using WDS for the PXE boot of MDT so haven't seen this. Cheers