Upgrade Windows 2012 R2 Storage Server to Windows 2016 - for ReFS

[Stephan G]

Hi everyone,

i am using the StoreEasy 1650 with Veeam B&R for our Backup. Now i want to take advantage of ReFS. Is it possible to perform an inplace update to Windows 2016 Storage Server?

Or do i have to install Windows 2016 (without the Storage) and install B&R afterwards?

best regards

Stephan

[srinatha_joshi · Accepted solution]

Hi Stephan,

I am from HPE Storage Team, here is the information for this query.

 New Software SKU available to upgrade either from Windows Storage Server 2012 or Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 to Windows Storage Server 2016
- Q057A – HPE WSS2016 Standard Edition Upgrade kit

HPE WSS2016 Standard Edition Upgrade Kit Q0F57A
Current or previous generation StoreEasy 1000 systems running either Windows Storage Server 2012 or Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition Operating System can
be upgraded to the Windows Storage Server 2016, Standard Edition Operating System by purchasing Q0F57A.

This upgrade kit contains the physical media containing the new OS image and a new Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity (COA) label that must be affixed to StoreEasy 1000
once the OS upgrade is complete. The new COA label is required to provide legal proof or purchase of the new OS.
NOTE: Because of the requirement to affix a new WSS2012 R2 or WSS2016 COA label to the product after upgrade, the OS upgrade image cannot be provided as a software download.

Upgrading the operating system on HPE StoreEasy Storage systems while retaining the system settings is also known as in-place upgrade. This upgrade method cannot be used for other platforms.

The DVD for this upgrade is included with your media kit:
• HPE StoreEasy 1000 3000/3PAR StoreServ WSS2016 Std Ed Upg DVD.
NOTE: Before starting the upgrade, ensure that the system drive (where the upgrade will be applied) has a minimum of 7 GB space to accommodate the upgrade. The upgrade will not continue if the specified space is not available. On rare occasions during the pre-upgrade process, if the tool is blocked for more than 2 hours or exits
after displaying the Extraction Failed message, then reboot the server and start the process from the beginning.

If any other issues on installing, you can log a support case with HPE.

Thanks and Best Regards.

[tobiasflitsch]

If ReFS is the only reason why you want to upgrade, I need to point out that ReFS is available in Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 as well. What is not available is an in-place file system change from NTFS to ReFS (neither is in 2016) and you will need to reformat your volumes with the new file system. 

[Stephan G]

Hi Tobias,

but isn't it true that i am stuck with an old version of ReFS (no dedup etc) on Windows 2012 R2?
I want to take advantage of these new features.

Thanks for pointing it out that a upgrade pack is available. I hoped i could just install it from our EA contract.
Can i just wipe the OS and install Windows 2016 1709 on it? i do not use the storage server features anyway.

[tobiasflitsch]

Hi Stephan,

this is absolutely true. You will only have the ReFS feature set available that is provided in the 2012 R2 release. If you need the latest feature set I guess there is no way around doing an upgrade. The shared upgrade pack should get you there.

If you use your regular Windows Server 2016 with your EA contract, please be aware that this will change the support level that you will get from HPE, i.e. we will no longer be able to provide you support for the operating system as an appliance and you will have to use your Microsoft support here. You should still receive component level hardware support from HPE.

Please also be aware that the Windows Storage Server edition comes with unlimed CALs and the Windows Server edition does not. So please ensure that you have the appropriate number of CALs to not violate Microsofts EULA. Apart from that, you should be fine.

[Records Management]

If the unit is under support, do you still have to buy the upgrade kit?

[tobiasflitsch]

Due to licensing constraints, we unfortunately can't provide the new operating system at no cost. 

[johnkristian]

This is not true. You can convert NTFS to REFS with the "convert" command in the command prompt. But you cannot comvert back to NTFS..

[tobiasflitsch]

Hi johnkristian,

can you point us to the documentation / reference of the command that you're mentioning below? I went through Microsoft documentation for both ReFS and NTFS and can't find any reference to the command that you mention in the context of ReFS - only FAT. 

Thanks.

[J-Philippe]

Hello, is there a trick or a guide to start the upgrade ? I'm in the same scenario (having the correct upgrade kit) but impossible to boot on the iso via the virtual USB CD ROM. Thanks in advance Jean-Philippe