Upgrade EntraConnect Server from Windows Server 2016 to 2022

Question

What is the best approach to upgrade an EntraConnect server from Windows Server 2016 to Windows Server 2022?

Is it possible to perform an in-place upgrade to avoid reinstalling EntraConnect?

Answer 1

Hi, @SF-6505 •

The recommended method to upgrade your entraconnect server is :

1. Export entraconnect setting using this procedure: Migrate settings from an existing server
2. If you have a staging server , in this case you can enable staging mode on entraconnect 2016 and disable it on second server
3. Rebuild the server with Windows 2022
4. Reinstall entraconnect server using the settings exported in step1
5. Enable staging mode on second server and disabled on new server 2022

Once the upgrade completed on first server , you can perform the same steps on the staging server if it still running on Windows 2016.

Upgrade-in place it's not recommend method , I recommend you to avoid it.

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Answer 2

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A.

Based on the description, I understand your question is related to upgrade EntraConnect Server from Windows Server 2016 to 2022.

Different methods that you can use to upgrade your Microsoft Entra Connect installation to the latest release. Microsoft recommends using the steps in the Swing migration section when you make a substantial configuration change or upgrade from older 1.x versions.

For some customers, an in-place upgrade can impose a considerable risk to production in case there's an issue while upgrading and the server can't be rolled back. A single production server might also be impractical as the initial sync cycle might take multiple days, and during this time, no delta changes are processed.

The recommended method for these scenarios is to use a swing migration. You can use this method when you need to upgrade the Windows Server operating system. Additionally, you can use it when you plan to make substantial changes to your environment configuration, which need to be tested before they're pushed to production.

Reference link:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/hybrid/connect/how-to-upgrade-previous-version#swing-migration

Best regards,

Molly

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