Can we add a SharePoint server on Windows Server 2003 to a farm on Windows server 2008?

Question

I have a SharePoint Farm setup on Windows Server 2008 (all 4 servers). Now I would like to add an existing server (Windows Server 2003) to the farm by minimal installation of SharePoint. Is this possible? Or should I upgrade the existing server to 2008?

Answer 1

Well you could mix various Windows version as long as they are using same architecture (32/64bit). But I would recommend an upgrade to 2008 because of following:

• to ease and uniform patching of your systems
• SharePoint 2010 will only support Windows 2008, it will be easier to upgrade if you are running 2008 already

Answer 2

Another Option in such case also would be to mix servers in different layers like WFE1 = W2K3, WFE2=W2K3, APP = W2K8, DATABASE = W2K8.