Forum Discussion
Support for M365 Apps (O365) on Windows 2022
First off I would like to thank everyone for the feedback and apologize for the delay in responding to this thread. Your feedback has made a difference, and sparked many internal discussions... we have customers running M365 on WS2016 and WS2019 today, and we want to enable staying current and secure being able to upgrade to WS2022.
<UPDATED EDIT> In response to your feedback we have announced support for M365 on Windows Server 2022, please see this link for additional information:
Windows Server end of support and Microsoft 365 Apps - Deploy Office | Microsoft Learn
Again, thank you for your feedback and passion!!
Elden Christensen
Principal Group PM Manager
Windows Server Development Team
Microsofttlabaume First for those wanting on-prem desktop services, I recommend looking at Azure Stack HCI which supports running AVD on-prem and M365 support. This is an on-prem solution, in your datacenter, on your hardware, managed with the same familiar tools you have today.
At Ignite we announced that Enterprise Agreement customers with Software Assurance can exchange their existing licensed cores of Windows Server Datacenter to get Azure Stack HCI at no additional cost.
We haven't made any decisions yet, just curious... historically we release Windows Server LTSC releases every 2 - 3 years. And if M365 was supported for the Mainstream support phase of the first 5-years of any given release, would that be acceptable?
Summarizing options:
- Migrate to the cloud
- Azure Stack HCI for on-prem AVD support
- Upgrade existing Windows Server to a newer version
Staying on a legacy version of Windows Server isn't the best decision to make in staying current / staying secure / maintaining support.
Thanks!
Elden
Elden_Christensen Thank you for asking for feedback here, Elden! Regarding the 5-year support cycle, one reason it's problematic is because by the time the hardware is certified for the new release, procured, shipped, and schedules align for the install, it's often already 18-24 months after the release. For smaller companies on a 5+ year replacement cycle, this puts a system out of support for about half of its life. When they have only one cluster, another challenge is migrating to Azure Stack at all. Realistically, it means new hardware (very difficult and risky to update their one cluster in production), but when the replacement cycle is 5+ years and given the hardware certification/procurement/etc. cycle, this new support uncertainty really puts them in a bind. They just can't afford to keep on the schedule Microsoft has in mind here, and for their use, there is little justification for new hardware otherwise.
Deleted That view seems to see it almost exclusively from the provider (software and hardware) side. From the customer side, the binding isn't technical, it's practical: e.g., small businesses running a single cluster for the majority of their workload simply can't upgrade that production system in place. It's far too risky.
Hi -_RH_- I understand your points. Yet there is no direct binding of hardware support and the 5Y software support cycle. In fact, I am seeing regular updates to older HW products to be certified for newer Windows Server releases by the OEM, so it is quite likely you can use your hardware ideally for at least 2 iterations of Windows Server with full support by Microsoft. Yet, the HW support is often limited to 5 years by our OEM partners and buying in longer terms after the initial 5 years is quite costly. Same as the possible extension by ESU for up to 3 years per Windows Server Product oder other Server Products such as SQL - ESU cost exceptions Azure (Cloud) + Azure Stack HCI (on-premises).
So if you keep this in mind a 5-year cycle, it could make sense. Agree 5-year cycles can be a burden for large enterprises if you do not favor software designed changes in concepts as infrastructure as a code. And it also causes a lot of old hardware that might not be resold for a second life.