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Update on Windows Server 2016 and Exchange Server 2016

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The_Exchange_Team
Platinum Contributor
Nov 04, 2016

Update 12/13/2016: Please see the December 2016 Quarterly Exchange Updates blog post for updates on this subject.

We wanted to raise your attention to an issue that some customers have reported running Exchange Server 2016 on Windows Server 2016. Crashes of the IIS (W3WP.exe) process have been reported causing instability of Exchange Server on Windows Server 2016. The Exchange team has worked with the Windows team to isolate the source of the problem. An update for Windows Server 2016 will be made available to resolve this issue. Microsoft recommends that customers delay deploying Exchange Server on Windows Server 2016 until this update is made available. For the latest guidance on known issues, please consult the Windows Server release notes on TechNet. When there are updates on this, we will update this blog post. The Exchange Team
Updated Jul 01, 2019
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  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Nov 07, 2016
    If running a standalone Exchange 2016 on WS2016 without DAG, there should be no issues?
    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Nov 07, 2016
      Yes, no issue when Windows 2016 is used to deploy Exchange 2016 CU3 in non-DAG configuration. So I deployed on WS2012R2 to enable HA. Will wait patiently for the fix.
  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Nov 04, 2016
    This is significantly impacting our High Availability Deployment.
  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Nov 04, 2016
    Thanks for the heads up. Any guidance for customers who are impacted by this issue?
    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Nov 04, 2016
      There currently is no workaround for this problem. Exchange Server will install on Windows Server 2016 cleanly and appear healthy until the first reboot after creating/joining a DAG. Customers should avoid installing Exchange Server on Windows Server 2016 until a supported update for Windows Server 2016 is available. Customers whose production environment is impacted are encouraged to replace Windows Server 2016 with Windows Server 2012R2 if they cannot wait for the update.
      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        Nov 04, 2016
        We have the exact same issue and a support ticket open with you. Everything works till I reboot. We eagerly await an update on this issue.
    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Nov 04, 2016
      The official advice (currently) is to run on WS2012R2 until the patch becomes available. I recommend you migrate your mailboxes away until that time. (NB: I'm not Microsoft.)

      Technet discussion: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/142ff1ab-242c-4436-a870-068720b5580f/exchange-server-2016-windows-server-2016-datacenter-iis-apppools-constantly-crashing?forum=Exch2016PS

    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Nov 04, 2016
      @Jetze: I'm not Microsoft, but a workaround I used (and worked in my case) was to stop and disable the MSExchangeHM service. Since there is now a MSExchangeHMRecovery service, you'd need to also stop and disable this one before, or it will re-enable the MSExchangeHM again (and then kaboom again).
      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        Nov 04, 2016
        Disabling the MSExchangeHM service is not recommended
  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Nov 04, 2016
    Hello Exchange Team,

    Thanks for this informative post. While we’re on the subject of Exchange 2016 on Windows 2016 …

    UCMA 4.0 is listed as a prerequisite for Exchange 2016 on Windows 2016 https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354(v=exchg.160).aspx

    However UCMA 4.0 was released four years ago and is clearly not supported on Windows 2016 according to the UCMA 4.0 requirements on this page https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34992

    So how is UCMA 4.0 a supported prerequisite for Exchange 2016 on Windows 2016 ?

    Looking forward to your timely response Exchange Team.

    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Nov 04, 2016
      The link that you referenced is indicative of the operating systems which were available at the time the download was created. It is noteworthy that it does not reference Windows Server 2012R2, also a supported operating system for Exchange Server 2013 and 2016. The Exchange team has confirmed that UCMA installations meet the requirements of Exchange on all supported operating systems. The Lync team, which creates the UCMA package, has not informed us of any problems supporting UCMA with Exchange on any of our supported operating systems.
  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Nov 04, 2016
    Gotcha! Nice to see that some our feedbacks may be useful sometimes... :)