Server 2016 upgrade options?

TechMinerUK · 22 Oct 2016 at 15:08

So this week I got my hands on server 2016 and I'm wondering what the best way would be to upgrade my current Server 2012 R2 Servers. Currently they are in their infancy so clean installs aren't out of the question if necessary however what would the best option be?

Current Servers:

Hyper V Host (2012 R2)
File Server VM (2012 R2)
VPN VM (2012 R2)
DC VM (2012 R2)
WSUS/Other Apps VM (2012 R2)

Any help is greatly appreciated as I've never performed any in-place upgrades before when it comes to servers

TechMinerUK · 22 Oct 2016 at 22:18

m4cc45 said:
I was typing out each role.
Personally though, I'd add a new VM and migrate.
M.

How would I migrate them?

TechMinerUK · 23 Oct 2016 at 08:55

Pigeon_Killer said:
For Hyper-V I'd be looking at Nano if you're going to 2016.

I'll need to use the GUI as there are some administration apps that have to be run on the server. I'm more concerned about if it's okay to do an in place upgrade or if I need to a clean install

TechMinerUK · 23 Oct 2016 at 17:18

Pigeon_Killer said:
Any apps that could run on the other servers? I'm hoping to migrate all of our VMs from a 2012 R2 Hyper-V Cluster to 2016 Nano next year.
MS generally advise against in place upgrades so I would go down the route of creating new VMs although there's no harm in backing up your current VM disks and testing the upgrade process. If it goes wrong you can just copy back the pre-upgrade disk.

Unfortunately not as this particular app doesn't place nice in the VM as it likes direct control

Nate--IRL-- said:
Any of the test in-place upgrades I've done have worked out very well. That said my Hyper-V Cluster will be fresh installs, during the rolling cluster upgrade. Every thing else I'll in-place upgrade as needed. Not going near Nano - it is such a pain to administer, for little gain. Join one to domain to see what I mean.
Nate

Since this is the Hyper-V host would it be better to do a fresh install then. I agree on Nano as I've never been able to get Powershell to administer hosts properly

mrbios said:
Is there a list anywhere of which roles require the GUI and which don't?
Seeing as (as far as i can tell from what I've read) they don't let you add and remove the GUI post install anymore? and in previous iterations not every role worked in the core edition, if i remember correctly?
I've started from scratch with SCCM latest build on a server 2016 VM with SQL 2016, so much to that one that i've gone with the GUI.....really not a fan of the GUI in 2016 though.

As far as I'm aware even if you removed the GUI post install it was still more bloated than without a GUI install at all meaning even if I considered removing the GUI there wasn't much point (I'm probably wrong though)

TechMinerUK · 23 Oct 2016 at 17:45

Pigeon_Killer said:
Correct on both counts although I'm not sure why they allowed you to add the GUI via Powershell during the Technical Previews then removed the ability in the final product.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-docs/get-started/getting-started-with-server-core
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-docs/get-started/getting-started-with-nano-server
Fair enough
Fresh install yes.
Some of the guides available for Nano are fantastic but most neglect to tell you what FW rules need to be enabled for you to remotely manage it.

Welp, that'll be a job for next weekend then