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We are getting ready to start a project to bring up a brand new SharePoint 2013 Intranet/Extranet site and was wondering if we should be using Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or Windows Server 2012. I know that both are supported and logic tells me to go with Windows Server 2012

Not sure I can convince my infrastructure folks to go with WS 2012 R2 because of it's very recent release date. They don't move that fast around here.

because that will give us more coverage from a support standpoint from Microsoft but I am wondering if there any compelling reasons not to bring up a couple of WS 2012 servers in a solidly Windows Server 2008 R2 environment. Are the any potential gotcha's that we should be on the lookout for in doing this?

Also, if we use Windows Server 2012 we would do so for the Web Front End, Application and Database servers. If we use WS 2012 for the database server can we run SQL Server 2008 R2 or do we need to (or should we?) go to SQL Server 2012? Another product that we don't have up here yet.

I appreciate any and all opinions on this topic.

Thanks,
Doug

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I recommend you go with Windows Server 2012.

However, note that SharePoint 2013 does not work on Windows Server 2012 R2 (support will come with the release of SP1 for SharePoint 2013 - expected soon).

As far as SQL goes, you can install SQL 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2012, but you need to ensure that SP1 is applied to SQL Server to make it compatible.

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Last year I setup our SharePoint 2013 environment on Server 2012. The Front-end and app server are on the same box, and I have SQL2012 back-end installed on another Server 2012 box. Both machines are running on VMware by the way. I didn't have any major problems with either, though server 2012 is somewhat awkward at first. If you plan on using it, become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts otherwise it can take a long time to find certain programs. We used a combination of keyboards shortcuts, and ClassicStart8 which gives you a pseudo-start button.

If you can, I'd try and convince the higher-ups to go with Server2012 and SQL2012. So far I haven't ran into any breaking bugs in Server2012 that would put-off using it. My environment has been running since August 2013. I've also patched SP2013 all the way up to the latest December CU update without it breaking anything!

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    If you are going with new development project,you can have Windows server 2012 R2 OS and install SP 2013 SP1 s/w and start development.
    – userAZLogicApps
    Nov 27, 2015 at 6:08
  • That is what I would do at this point. When we setup our farm R2 was still a glimmer in the eye, but there's no reason to not do as you suggest now.
    – Lee Harrison
    Nov 27, 2015 at 6:22

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