Why is Windows Server 2008 R2 being overlooked? Part 2 – Why aren’t people moving to it?

Like most situations, there are legitimate reasons why some organizations/admins aren't moving to R2, and there are many bogus reasons. Legitimate reasons; Core application compatibility issues. Unfortunately there are some core Microsoft applications that aren't supported with R2 in the mix. This is very, very unfortunate and Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot on this one. The product teams need to get themselves a little more in-sync with the OS teams on this. Many of the core apps are just listed as 'unsupported' which essentially means simply that the product team hasn't certified their product for the new OS. That doesn't mean it won't work, just they haven't tested it yet to make sure it does. The simple fact of Microsoft saying 'unsupported' means no corporation will move to the new OS. This alone really hurts adoption of R2. Below are some product examples; Microsoft Exchange 2003/2007 – Microsoft Exchange 2010 is fully supported on R2, 2007 and 2003 are not. Honestly, that's not a big deal as no one is going to migrate their OS for Exchange without migrating the app to the next version as well. The tricky part was that you couldn't have R2 domain controllers with Exchange involved. That's the problem. Things have changed in this regard. See the links below to see the evolution of this issue; http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/09/21/452567.aspx – We are not supporting R2 http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/11/04/453026.aspx – We will support R2 http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/11/30/453327.aspx - Releasing the fix OCS 2007/ 2007 R2 – Office Communications Server 2007 and 2007 R2 are also un-supported on Server 2008 R2. Again, the same scenario as Exchange, you aren't going to migrate the underlying OS of already existing production servers but the domain controller issue also exists with OCS. The other issue is that OCS is another Microsoft product that is sorely overlooked and as more and more Enterprises are learning of it's awesomeness (yes, that's a new word for today) they would like to build the product on the latest OS release to prevent upgrades in the future. Unfortunately they cannot do this. (This is in regards to an issue with .Net framework versions if I recall correctly.) I was actually going to help a customer add in their first 2008 R2 domain controller when we found out about the OCS issue with R2 DC's. Needless to say the customer was very disappointed we couldn't add an R2 DC. This issue is going away in Q1 of this year - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/supported-applications.aspx So, while this was a major stumbling block for 2008 R2 adoption, Microsoft is quickly rectifying the situation. For a full list of supported applications for Server 2008 R2 and when the apps will be supported, check this link here - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/supported-applications.aspx Core applications are already in place. This one is fairly self evident. If you already have Exchange 2007 or OCS 2007 or Sharepoint 2007 in place, you aren't going to migrate these core applications to a new server/OS until the next version is released. This is just fiscally responsible and realistic. For any new applications or expansion of current applications many admins will want to use R2 (again for the purpose of preventing having to do upgrades in the future) and if the application allows them to, they will. (See the above issue.) Honestly, these are the only legitimate reasons I can think of for NOT moving to 2008 R2. If you know of any others, please let me know in the comments and I'll update the article. Bogus reasons; Windows Server 2008 R2 is a 'minor' release. Again, this is where Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot. The thought behind the server teams doing a 'major' and 'minor' release schedule was they thought admins were afraid of 'major' OS releases and therefore would be more likely to adopt 'minor' releases interim. I have to say I completely disagree with this assessment and here is why; Admins know ANY CHANGE equals RISK. This doesn't mean just the changes in the OS, but changing your production environment in any way equates some risk. Large production environments are very complex systems and one change in one arena can affect other areas of the environment you would have never expected. (For example, adding an R2 DC and suddenly OCS or Exchange starts having issues, something you wouldn't expect to occur.) Not to mention there is the bureaucracy and red tape that you have to go through in a large IT organization to make a change to the production environment. That means if Server 2008 is billed as a 'minor' release, admins are going to pass on it because as a 'minor' release it won't be worth the hassle and risk. I'll just wait until the next major release, make it worth my while. An additional note on this topic, I personally find billing R2 as a 'minor' release is also insulting to the product itself and all the hard work that went into it. Personally I would have loved to see Server 2008 R2 sold as 'Windows Server 7', and the branding alone would have spurred adoption due to the great market acceptance of Windows 7. (Obviously the Windows Phone division realized this.) General laziness. Yep, we all know it. There are many admins out there that just plain don't like learning anything new, and don't like change. It's just a job to them, and anything that causes them more work they hate. These admins are easy to spot, they are the ones that complain Microsoft releasing another product is just about 'making more money without really doing anything other than slapping a new name on an old product with a couple of tweaks.' Yeah, we know who you are. (By the way, DUH, of course they want to make money. It's called Capitalism!) Ignorance. Most admins have no idea why they SHOULD move to R2. Again, this is a failing on Microsoft for not getting the word out. I have never heard Direct Access mentioned by anyone at Microsoft or seen it really talked about in the Tech Press. There have been a few mentions but come on people, this is a POWERFUL and REVOLUTIONARY FEATURE!! Microsoft should be screaming this from the roof tops! Every time I tell an admin about it they stare at me in disbelief. Half the time they think I'm lying, then they wonder why they've never heard of it before. I agree with them, why haven't they heard it before??? My advice to Microsoft is once again, work with the product teams to get your word out! Every admin has their one product they are the experts on and pride themselves on that. If every product team got the word out, you would see a huge improvement in the uptake of Server 2008 R2. We need to wait until at least the first service pack. This is one of the lamest, stupidest excuses I always hear. Maybe, MAYBE this was true back in the Windows NT days but welcome to the 21st century people. Server 2003 in BETA was the most stable OS I had ever used and proved itself immediately in production. It's time to stop being cowards and start being men. Finally there's one reason that fits in both the legitimate and bogus reasons categories. Testing before deploying. Many organizations don't have the time or the resources to deploy a full lab of their production environment to make sure that a new OS isn't going to wreak havoc. This is a legitimate concern, but Microsoft has taken steps to make this easier. By providing free already configured .VHD's of new products/OS's, Microsoft is making it easy for admins to play with the new releases without having to install anything, and Microsoft is going to continue to find ways to make this process even easier and more accessible to even the smallest of IT shops. So, in conclusion if you haven't learned about 2008 R2, it's time you started doing your research. Windows Server 2008 R2 is NOT a 'minor' release and should be treated with the same respect and resources that a major server OS release would. Trust me on this, and you'll be thanking me later. <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://segment-pixel.invitemedia.com/pixel?code=TechBiz&amp;partnerID=167&amp;key=segment" /> <img alt="" height="0" width="0" border="0" style="display:none" src="http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-8bUhLiluj0fAw.gif?labels=pub.29715.rss.TechBiz.9425,cat.TechBiz.rss" /> Microsoft - Windows Server 2008 - Operating system - Microsoft Exchange Server - Windows Server 2008 R2
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