Upgrading and Migrating from Previous Versions
For an organization that is already using Hyper-V, the adoption of Windows Server
2016 Hyper-V is a simple process. For both stand-alone and clustered hosts, Microsoft
supports an n-2 upgrade support policy. This means that upgrading from Windows
Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 is supported. However, when a host has a
virtual switch (which every Hyper-V host will), an upgrade only from 2012 R2 to 2016
is supported. If a node is using NIC Teaming, no upgrade is possible.
It’s important when upgrading your Hyper-V infrastructure that the upgrade is as
transparent to the end users as possible, so minimizing downtime is important. When
thinking of your upgrade, make sure you consider the following:
Can your hardware run the new version of Windows Server 2016? (Likely, yes, if
you are running Windows Server 2012, but remember that Windows Server 2016
now requires SLAT support in the processor, which was optional in previous
versions.) Even if it can, would this be a good time for a hardware refresh? I have
seen big performance differences when running Hyper-V on newer processor
generations.
Is your management infrastructure compatible with Windows Server 2016? Can it
provide malware protection, monitoring, backup, and so on? It needs to!
Have you upgraded System Center to the 2016 version for full Windows Server
2016 support?
Are the administrators trained in Windows Server 2016? Ensure that
administrators can properly manage Windows Server 2016, especially if they are
used to Windows Server 2012. If you are moving to Server Core or Nano Server,
this may be a big shift for administrators.
Are administrators using Windows 10? Only Windows 10 can run the Windows
Server 2016 Remote Server Administration Tools to manage Windows Server 2016
servers remotely.Stand-Alone Hosts
For a stand-alone Hyper-V host, it is possible to perform an in-place upgrade. You
launch the Windows Server 2016 setup process and select the option to perform an in-
place upgrade. This maintains all of the server configurations but also means a period
of unavailability to the virtual machines because the virtual machines will all be shut
down during the upgrade of the host operating system. Once the upgrade is complete,
the virtual machines will start, and then you can continue your management and post-
upgrade actions.
Another option, if you have additional hardware available and are migrating from
Windows Server 2012 R2, is to create a new Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V host and