Migration from SFB 2015 to SFB 2019

[gacasta]

Hello Every one,

We have a customer that want to migrate from SFB 2015 to SFB 2019. But we have found the next blockers to start.

1.) Checking requirements we see that SFB 2019 Enterprise edition requires SQL server 2016 or 2017 standard (64bit) for the Back End. Nowadays customer want to reuse the SQL server 2014 that is installed for the SFB 2015 deployment. Do you know if it is possible?. Other option is that customer has other SQL servers 2016 working for other purposes but does not have more SQL server 2016 licenses available. Can we configure a separate instance for the SFB 2019 deployment on those SQL 2016 servers? or it needs to be a dedicated SQL server for the SFB 2019 deployment?

2.) Checking requirements we see that SFB 2019 need Domain controllers, Domain functional level and Forest functional level on  

• Windows Server 2019

• Windows Server 2016

• Windows Server 2012 R2

• Windows Server 2012

Customer has Domain controllers, Domain functional level and Forest functional level on  Windows Server 2008 R2. Customer is not going to update this on near future so my questions are, any of you know if SFB 2019 could work on this customer scenario? and the other question is, is better to inform customer to first update the DC and functional levels before trying to make the migration?

3.) There are many users with the Lync 2010 client yet, and searching in our documentation Lync 2010 client does not apear as a supported client, so my question is, it just does not work? or it work but is not supported?

Sorry for the large consultation but those are important points to define if start the process or postpone the migration while customer meet the requirements?

Please let me know your comments,

Gabriel.

[#2]

@gacasta 

I wouldnt recomment you to migrate to SFB 2019 yet as external communication is still not working. You wont be able to connect to different SFB users or to regular Skype directory.

[#3]

@gacasta 

I recommend you to install Windows Server 2019, SFB 2019 and SQL 2017. But if that is no solution, i recommend to stay on SFB 2015 server. there is not so much difference at the moment, couple of changes, improvements and longer lifecycle.

Best is to upgrade the clients to the latest versions and bring the functional domain level to the recommended requirments for SFB server 2019 and then start to install SFB Server 2019.

Greetings,

Erdem

[#4]

@James1 Why should federation not work? Do you have Edge servers deployed with SFB server 2019?

[#5]

@Erdem 

Hello. It didnt work for me and a couple of threads were open in SFB 2019 board having the same issue. In short one user opened support ticket with MS, and MS said that that is a known bug and will be fixed in CU1. He had the same error as me.

[#6]

@James1 and @Erdem , thank you both for your recommendations I will be doing a lab to have the experience with this migration first.

[#7]

You should follow the supportability guidelines.  DFL/FFL of 2012 is required as per https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/skypeforbusiness/plan/system-requirements#os-for-domain-controllers.

If you move forward without meeting the requirements, you could run into issues that force you to upgrade the DFL/FFL if no workaround can be found.  That would be an extremely stressful experience if something like that did occur.

Also keep in mind that extended support for 2008/R2 as linked from the product lifecycle page directs to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-new-options-for-sql-server-2008-and-windows-server... which states January 20, 2020.