Windows Server 2016 experences?

TheSmJ

2[H]4U
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Dec 20, 2006
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Next year we'll be moving all of our servers to VMWare hosts, and since we're still running Server 2008 I'm interested in upgrading the OS as well. At the moment I have some other enterprise software to test, and assuming it's supported I'd like to try it on Server 2016.

Is anyone using Server 16 in a production environment? Any issues or concerns?
 
Based on history of the previous 3 generations (2003, 2008, 2012), I would wait until the next Windows Server LTSC comes out (probably early 2019). The second variant of the server OSes is always much better than the first version. Also, it always seems that applications flake out on newer server OSes.

However, I understand that is probably longer of a wait than you would want. I have seen 2016 deployed successfully, especially if you are only using built in components and do not rely on 3rd party applications.
 
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Doesn't it have a trial period if you're a glutton for punishment?

Yup. But that's acceptable since this is running software that's also on a trial much shorter than the 180 days for Server 16.
 
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Running 2016 standard in production.
Very easy to use
I have 1 VM setup.
Runs great. Granted its just DNS, DHCP, and file hosting. No heavy lifting.
 
Based on history of the previous 3 generations (2003, 2008, 2012), I would wait until the next Windows Server LTSC comes out (probably early 2019). The second variant of the server OSes is always much better than the first version. Also, it always seems that applications flake out on newer server OSes.

However, I understand that is probably longer of a wait than you would want. I have seen 2016 deployed successfully, especially if you are only using built in components and do not rely on 3rd party applications.

Sorry, got to say you are wrong on almost all of that and are basing it on what? How is the other better than the first, in what ways?

Server 2016 in production since it came out and no issues as of yet, 2012 and R2 were the same. Unless you need a specific feature, or some very very sensitive software you should be fine.
 
Sorry, got to say you are wrong on almost all of that and are basing it on what? How is the other better than the first, in what ways?

Server 2016 in production since it came out and no issues as of yet, 2012 and R2 were the same. Unless you need a specific feature, or some very very sensitive software you should be fine.
I'm wrong that the second version of the OS is better or I'm wrong that the second version of the OS is more compatible?

The second version has more features, and the second version has been around longer thus has more compatible applications.
 
I tried putting 2016 on my spare 2011v3 rig. No matter what drivers I used it would not take them to even install the damn thing. Non server mobo though.
 
I'm wrong that the second version of the OS is better or I'm wrong that the second version of the OS is more compatible?

The second version has more features, and the second version has been around longer thus has more compatible applications.

What "second version" of 2016 are you waiting for though? Server 2016 wasn't released until it paralleled the 1607 build of Win 10, which is already the "third version" of the 10 code.

OP, I have a few 2016 boxes running now as VMs in production, haven't had any issues with it so far. For home testing though, getting nic drivers to work with my Nuc D34010WYKH proved to be more of a challenge than I expected when I upgraded from 2012 R2, shouldn't have any issues like that with ESXi though.
 
Been using 2016 in a production environment since day 1 of release. Very heavy usage (Terminal Server, SQL Servers, 8 VM's) without issue.
 
What "second version" of 2016 are you waiting for though? Server 2016 wasn't released until it paralleled the 1607 build of Win 10, which is already the "third version" of the 10 code.

OP, I have a few 2016 boxes running now as VMs in production, haven't had any issues with it so far. For home testing though, getting nic drivers to work with my Nuc D34010WYKH proved to be more of a challenge than I expected when I upgraded from 2012 R2, shouldn't have any issues like that with ESXi though.
Covered what I mean by "second version" in my original post, chief. You may need to look up the definition of subtext.
 
Covered what I mean by "second version" in my original post, chief. You may need to look up the definition of subtext.

And again, I'll ask, what "second version" are you waiting for? Server 2016 follows the Windows as a service model that Windows 10 uses. The Windows 10 update to 1607 is essentially the Windows 8 to 8.1 update, which in turn was the Server 2012 to 2012 R2 update.
 
And again, I'll ask, what "second version" are you waiting for? Server 2016 follows the Windows as a service model that Windows 10 uses. The Windows 10 update to 1607 is essentially the Windows 8 to 8.1 update, which in turn was the Server 2012 to 2012 R2 update.
There will be a second LTSC version in late 18 or early 19. That would be the second version of Windows Server 2016 R2/2018 or whatever they end up calling it at that time.

I think you are just arguing semantics so I am going to be ending my participation in this thread to stop the food chain.
 
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I think more you are just basing things on your own experience vs any large scale issues? 2nd version has more compatibility, can you be more specific with what didn't work in 2003 but worked in 2003 R2 and 2008 /R2 and 2012/R2? I have had my share of servers and custom apps and have yet to see ones that did not work across the original and R2 versions since the core of the OS rarely changes that much from my past job to my current job in an I.T consulting firm.
 
Based on history of the previous 3 generations (2003, 2008, 2012), I would wait until the next Windows Server LTSC comes out (probably early 2019). The second variant of the server OSes is always much better than the first version. Also, it always seems that applications flake out on newer server OSes.

However, I understand that is probably longer of a wait than you would want. I have seen 2016 deployed successfully, especially if you are only using built in components and do not rely on 3rd party applications.
Gotta agree here. 2008R2 and 2012R2 upped the bar and just improved everything each time. Not so with 2016. And 2012R2 is still the high watermark for server OS from Microsoft. 2016 in its current form is a bloatware shitshow if you're doing GUI install instead of core.

I'm considering doing another 2016 install with all the bloat/Edge/Store/mobile app crap removed by MSMG Toolkit like I've done for my Windows 10 installs, maybe that'll make it more palatable.
 
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I've done some testing and validation on Server 2016 and it works fine. You just need to spend some time disabling the garbage like Windows Defender and the default high-res lock screen and backgrounds on your custom ISO or VM template.

And regarding R2 versions being better than the first release, this was definitely the case with 2003 and 2008, and kinda the case with 2012 due to the missing Start button and introduction of the tile-based app menu, but 2016 seems to be just a slightly upgraded version of 2012 R2. From my discussions with Microsoft, they are moving towards a yearly release of most software and more frequent incremental updates. This can be seen with Visual Studio (now yearly releases) and SQL Server Management Studio (removed from SQL package and now a standalone component released/updated each month).
 
Two issues come to mind, intuit still doesn't support quickbooks database server 2017 on WS2016 and a good security idea but a pain when offices have super old copiers is disabling SMBv1. The latter's work around is using ftp for scan to network and the former.. Not so sure. Overall I prefer 2012 r2.
 
Two issues come to mind, intuit still doesn't support quickbooks database server 2017 on WS2016 and a good security idea but a pain when offices have super old copiers is disabling SMBv1. The latter's work around is using ftp for scan to network and the former.. Not so sure. Overall I prefer 2012 r2.

It's always business management software that has the issue with newer operating systems. Why the hell can't the developers of business management software keep up!

One package I'm forced to deal with quite often due to it's incompatibilities with Windows 10 is Reckon Accounts, it still doesn't really email reliability under any OS above Windows 7 and refuses to email to Outlook 2016.
 
Two issues come to mind, intuit still doesn't support quickbooks database server 2017 on WS2016 and a good security idea but a pain when offices have super old copiers is disabling SMBv1. The latter's work around is using ftp for scan to network and the former.. Not so sure. Overall I prefer 2012 r2.

A lot of the super old copiers that need smbv1 had other issues with connecting to later versions of windows due to other changes in smb(I want to say with encryption but it has been a while). In those cases I've always just setup the machines with ftp. That or they had some special software to scan to that doesn't work in modern windows so again I did ftp.

Biggest issue with 2016 right now is compatibility. On like 3 of the last 5 installs of new servers with 2016 I've had to leave at least one virtual machine at 2012r2 due to vendors saying they are not yet ready for 2016 or that I'd be one of the test cases. Most of the other stuff is minor(I got used to the side menu in 2012r2 that was trashed, some stuff more hidden like control panel, etc).

For what its worth I didn't care about 2012/2012r2's stupid full screen start bars. I knew a lot of people that loaded classic shell on servers to have the old school menu back but I just didn't care enough.
 
I'm not a fan of the new 'active hours' update settings on server 2016, and not a fan of tablet features being included in the OS at all, as it makes zero sense....

We're sticking to 2012R2 for new deployments for now.
 
I'm not a fan of the new 'active hours' update settings on server 2016, and not a fan of tablet features being included in the OS at all, as it makes zero sense....

We're sticking to 2012R2 for new deployments for now.

Yea I forgot about that. That gets me too.
 
Yes and they only let you set 12 'active' hours so like 7am to 7pm etc. Which is great if you need the server from say 5am to 10pm

You should never need to set active hours though, WSUS/GPO or SCCM should be handling all of your patching.
 
We use WSUS, and set it t not do any updates until I come in on Sunday to do it manually. So, it's usully 2-3 months between updates unless there's a security issue to address (cryptolocker variants like in May)

13 2016 servers, all virtual. 1 on Hyper-V, all others VMWare 5.5. Doing SQL, PDM (Solidworks file server), file server, and running 3rd party servers (licensing, application, etc.). If we ever need something, we just spin up a dedicated server for that app, as we have the licensing to do it.

I definitely prefer it to 2012R2

*edit* oops, Hyper-V is hosted on a physical 2016. Forgot I set that up for better ReFS implementation (that we didn't use).
 
We're running 225 servers, all virtual on two VCE vBlocks, and I'd say roughly 1/3 have already been created or migrated to Server 2016. It's Windows 10 with some server-related services on top. I don't mean that as a criticism. It works. No issues, handles whatever tasks we throw at it.
 
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