Upgrade windows server 2012R2 to windows server 2016, will the Exchange system be affected?

Question

Our current system is installing Exchange 2016 on the Windows 2012R2 OS platform. We are planning to upgrade the OS to Windows 2016 -> I want to ask, will the Exchange system be affected? Do I have to reconfigure Exchange? Thanks to everyone for help

Answer 1

This is not supported. You will need to build a new Exch Server with the supported o/s and move mailboxes etc to the new server.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/plan-and-deploy/supportability-matrix?view=exchserver-2019#supported-operating-systems

Answer 2

Yes, you need to build a new Exchange server and migrate mailboxes to it.

Your Existing Exchange server environment: Exch01 (Windows 2012 R2, Exchange 2016)

You can follow below steps-

• Install a new Windows server 2016 (named Exch02)
• Install Exchange 2016 latest Security Updates on Exch02
• In Exchange Admin Center (EAC) :
• Add Exch02 to the Send Connector
• Select Exch02 > Configure External Access Domain URL the same as above and select Exch02 as the source server.
• Select Exch02 > Configure Outlook Anywhere using the same domain
• Configure OWA and other virtual directories with the same URL
• External DNS:
• Autodiscover points to Exch02
• Install a new certificate for Exch02
• Move mailboxes to Exch02
• Test send/receive emails
• Shutdown Exch01
• Test send/receive emails

Answer 3

I still need more people's opinions.