Connecting Windows Server 2012 R2 to M365

Question

I am migrating to M365 from an on-prem network. We will still be keeping a Windows 2012 R2 member server on-prem for a specific piece of software to run.

I want to be able to connect the Windows 2012 R2 to my M365 Premium portal. I want to be able to manage the server via InTune and protect with Defender and EDR.

I can find no way to connect this server to the M365 Portal.

I have explored doing a site-site VPN, but feel this is an overkill.

I guess my questions would be:

1. Is there a way to connect / join this server to the M365 Portal (sort of like a Win10 box)?
2. Is there really a NEED to connect it if I forgo any of the above desires and managed it independently which doesn't really make sense to do.

Answer 1

Hello @iDadD4 ,

Unfortunately, this is not possible since a recent change in lifecycle. Windows 2012 R2 is not anymore supported to manage M365.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/endofsupport/windows-server-support

Hope this clarifies the issue.

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Answer 2

@iDadD4 Thanks for posting in our Q&A.

From intune's point of view, intune doesn't support to manage servers. Intune supported operating systems are in the following article:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mem/intune/fundamentals/supported-devices-browsers#intune-supported-operating-systems

Thanks for understanding.

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Answer 3

There's no direct way to manage Windows Defender in a Windows Server device using Intune today. No commitments, but we are actively working on a way doing this though. To be clear, this won't give full management, just management of supported Windows Defender capabilities on the device.