Migrating an on-premises Windows Server 2012 Standard to Azure

Question

Hello,

I have an on-premises Windows server 2012 Standard edition that hosts multiple VMs using Hyper-V. These VMs act as Domain controllers, DHCP servers, file storage etc. I also have a physical firewall that I should keep in mind when configuring Azure.

I tried pretty much everything I found on the documentation regarding Azure Migrate. The problem that I have is that the appliance is not compatible with 2012 standard edition, only 2012 R2.

I need recommendations / suggestions on what path should I follow to migrate the server as well as all the VMs to Azure.

Cheers

Answer 1

Hello @Imad Messelmani Thank you for contacting us through Microsoft Q&A platform. Happy to help!

I understand that you want to migrate your on-premises Windows Server 2012 to Azure. However, as per support document Windows Server 2012 is not a supported OS for migration to Azure.

Azure Migrate now supports in-place upgrades of Windows Server 2012 and later versions, during the move to Azure. Organizations can now elect to move their legacy applications and databases to a fully supported, compatible, and compliant operating system such as Windows Server 2016, 2019, or 2022. Organizations can also avoid downtime by first upgrading to a test environment in Azure and running production workloads in parallel to confirm functionality and compatibility, before fully moving to Azure.

With this new feature, organizations can avoid Windows Server 2012/R2 end of support and accomplish their modernization and migration goals in one motion. Learn more about this feature in Azure Migrate here.  

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions.

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Answer 2

Hello,

 

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

It's more recommended to upgrade the server from Windows 2012 to 2016 or higher version as it had reached end of support on 10th, Oct 2023.

After the upgrade it will be more smooth to migrate from on-premises to Azure.

REF: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/collections/6wyckxzznk287

 

Best regards，

Jill Zhou

 

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Answer 3

Hey,

As noted, it is recommended to upgrade the OS to the supported one. Azure Migrate can do the job to move your VMs to Azure. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/migrate/tutorial-migrate-hyper-v?tabs=UI

You can also use StarWind V2V Converter to move VMs to Azure or a different cloud.

https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-v2v-converter

Cheers,

Alex Bykovskyi

StarWind Software

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