Server Upgrade Licencing

[LeMarchand]

Finally got all functions migrated off our 2008R2 server over summer and turned the box off. Realised today that it was also being used as on site backup for our file server - don't worry, the off site backup also covers this!

 

I was thinking it would be good to get this running again and was considering updating the OS to whatever it will take or at least reformatting and removing its ability to reach the internet. So a few questions:

 

 

1. Would our existing licence on the server allow this?
   
2. If not, would leaving it only able to connect internally and leaving 2008R2 on it be bad? (Could always FreeNAS it, but suspect it probably doesn't have good enough specs for a recent version)
   
3. Data is priceless but, given that we have another backup solution in place, is it worth the electricity costs of an ancient server that is within 20m or so of its source, albeit on a different floor (but not an enclosed one)? The data being backed up is home folders and file shares, which we are trying to push to the cloud.
   

[DavR]

Depends on the spec of the box, really. If it's worthwhile, then I don't see a problem repurposing it as backup storage, I've done the same in the past.

 

IMO though, you'd only be creating problems for yourself if you put 2008R2 back on it. If you don't have / can't get current server licensing, then I wouldn't put Windows on that box. Performance wise though, current versions of Windows Server will probably work on the old hardware. The only issue would be performance, but you're only after dumb storage so that's no biggie.

 

Whether your current licensing covers upgrading that box to a current server version depends on your licensing scheme. If you're on OVS or similar and pay annually yes, if you buy individual licenses as required, almost certainly not.

 

If it's an option, I would always go for local AND offsite backup. Local backup will get you back and running again far quicker than restoring from remote. It also means you can backup far more, and reserve that expensive offsite space for just the essentials.

[LeMarchand]

Cheers. We've always paid extra for server licences, so probably not able to upgrade unless in place upgrades are allowed.

[DavR]

Depends on whether you've got any budget at all for this one. Last time I looked at buying outright licenses, server standard was about £230. Although I suppose you could argue that is about half the price of a viable NAS box!

[XiJ]

I thought about this recently. We’ve taken an old host of line. I was thinking about hyper-v core with an iscsi service. Use the server as a target with veeam.

 

Hyper-v 2022 is no longer free. 2019 is and still supported.

[Sonic007]

Buy a NAS instead?

[LeMarchand]

Buy a NAS instead?

 

What is this "buy" thing you mention? It must be something that you can do when you have a budget .