When to upgrade - Server Tutorial

- [Instructor] I was speaking recently with a network administrator for a global company. He told me that his IT infrastructure was out of date because his Windows Servers were a version or two behind the newest thing from Microsoft. The long-term Windows Server releases like Server 2012, 2016, and now Windows Server 2019 are meant to remain functional for more than just a couple of years, so this is a normal situation. A new one will come out every two to four years and they'll be supported for approximately 10 years. That means you're never really forced into a quick upgrade. In fact, I'll go on record as saying that the release of a newer version of Windows Server is never the reason to upgrade your entire network. Let me tell you, instead, why you should install a newer version of Windows Server. You should plan to start integrating Windows Server 2019 installations into your network if you're expanding a data center and would like the control and flexibility of being able to group your clusters and take advantage of advances in Storage Spaces Direct. You might consider Windows Server 2019 if your older file servers need to be retired and you need a new system that will allow you to easily migrate data and entire configurations to new servers without disrupting service. Or you might be looking for any of the features rolled out in the semiannual releases of Windows Server, but maybe you didn't want the volatility of an operating system that will reach end-of-life in less than two years. And this is by no means an exhaustive list, but the bottom line is this, you should begin to upgrade your network because you face evolving needs and you recognize that Microsoft has addressed those needs in the new version of Windows Server. In courses on installing and configuring Windows Server, I discuss the process of planning how servers will be used so that the installation will fit the needs from the very beginning, including the roles, the right edition of Windows Server, and when it comes to adding a new version of Windows Server, or a new version of any product, you add another dimension. You still need to consider all of this, but you also need to take into account the minimum system requirements. For example, Windows Server 2019 has hardware requirements that may seem very similar to Server 2016. A minimum of a 1.4 gigahertz 64-bit processor that supports memory protection and Second Level Address Translation is still a requirement, especially for virtualization roles. You will also need at least a couple gigabytes of memory. Now, you should be looking at that any saying, yeah, right, like that will work. Two gigabytes of memory is only enough to run Windows itself, and barely that. Always consider the roles that you're going to install and the load that you're going to put on the server, and make sure you have enough horsepower for those needs, and it might be more than what you're used to. Similarly, when you read that the storage requirement is 32 gig or more of hard drive space on a compatible controller, understand that it will require a lot more. 32 gig is enough to run Windows and possibly several months' worth of updates, but it's by no means a recommended threshold. You also need to make sure that your network controllers support the PCI Express architecture and that they support at least one gigabit per second of throughput. And even after you look at all of these requirements, if you're upgrading a network, you need to consider the roles like ADFS or Certificate Services, or even more common, Active Directory. These roles involve multiple servers working together, and upgrading them requires some planning. Whether you're going to take the ADFS farm or the functional level of the role for the entire network and try to bring that up to the enhanced versions in Windows Server 2019, planning the upgrade or the introduction of a new Windows Server 2019 system into your network will require you to take a look at your entire infrastructure, not just that one server, as you decided to upgrade specific services. These types of roles require their own unique methods for upgrading, and the service or migration of the responsibilities has to be echoed across multiple machines. Bottom line, there's a lot to consider. As we go through this course, we're going to take a look at new as well as traditional roles performed by Windows Server and what's involved in bringing Windows Server 2019 into your mix.