Migration from Wndows Server 2012 R2 Std. to Windows Server 2019 Std.

Question

Hi all,

I hope you guys are doing well. We are planning to migrate our windows server 2012 R2 Std. environment to Windows Server 2019 Std. We have a complete virtual environment running on VMware and the services running are as follows:

-Domain controllers (ADDS, CA, DNS, 2 redundant nodes)
-Exchange Server 2016 CU3 (2 redundant nodes)
-Sharepoint Server (2016) (2 App servers, 2 web Servers in redundant mode)
-SQL Server Mgmt Studio 2016 (2 redundant nodes), this is one single sql database instance for all services
-Manage Engine Monitoring tools (AD audit Plus, Exchange Reporter Plus, EventLog Analyzer, OPmanager)

We want to migrate to server 2019 Std with complete new installation. Can any one please guide us through complete step by step process so we can migrate easily with healthy transition without loosing any data or services.

I really appreciate your support in this regard.

Thanks
Regards
Ali,

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you so much for posting here.

As for the migration of Exchange server, Sharepoint server and SQL server, we could start the new threads and choose the corresponding tags so that the dedicated support professional can further assist you with the requests. As for these tools, we could try to communicate with the corresponding hardware/software vendors for confirmation.

As for the migration of Active directory from windows server 2012 R2 to windows server 2019. Below are our reply, which we hope could be helpful to you.

We recommend to add a new 2019 DC to the existing domain instead of upgrading the Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2019. I suggest we check our AD health before we make any change in our AD environment.

1, Check DC health by running Dcdiag /v and check AD replication by running repadmin/showrepl and repadmin /replsum before joining the new DC.
2, The minimum requirement to add a Windows Server 2019 Domain Controller is a Windows Server 2008 functional level. The domain also has to use DFS-R as the engine to replicate SYSVOL. So before we add 2019 DC to the existing domain, we need to ensure the functional level is at least Windows Server 2008, and the SYSVOL folder replication type is DFSR.

Here are the steps about how to add a new DC to existing domain. We can try the above steps.

1, Check DC health by running Dcdiag /v and check AD replication by running repadmin/showrepl and repadmin /replsum.
2, Join Windows Server 2019 to existing domain.
3, Promote Windows Server 2019 as Domain Controller.
4, Repeat step1 to check AD environment health.
5, Transfer FSMO roles to the new DC if needed.
6, Demote the old DC if needed.
7, Raise domain / forest function level based on our requirement and environment, as mentioned above.

Normally, Active Directory integrated zone DNS service is deployed on the domain controller. We could install DNS when we run the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard to promote Windows Server 2019 as Domain Controller.

A domain controller cannot be removed from a host on which the CA is installed. Therefore, to remove the domain controller, the CA must first be uninstalled from the original host. After we promoted Windows Server 2019 as Domain Controller, we could then migrate CA to Windows server 2019.

Please note: In the actual application environment, it is recommended to deploy the certificate server independently, and it is not recommended to deploy CA server and the domain controller on the same server.

More information about CA migration, we could refer to:

Active Directory Certificate Services Migration Guide for Windows Server 2012 R2
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/dn486797(v%3dws.11)

For any question, please feel free to contact us.

Best regards,
Hannah Xiong

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