SQL Server 2016 Pre Upgrade Checklist and Unsupported Scenarios

SQL Server 2016 introduced a large number of enhancements and feature releases, which have prompted corporations to envision for an upgrade. For a successful upgrade and migration path to SQL Server 2016, you need to ensure that you have followed all the SQL server 2016 pre upgrade checklist and unsupported scenarios.

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Firstly, you need to ensure that your edition of SQL Server is eligible for a direct upgrade path to SQL Server 2016. You can upgrade to SQL Server 2016 from the following versions:

SQL Server 2008
SQL Server 2008 R2
SQL Server 2012
SQL Server 2014

Search for your SQL Server Edition to see if you have a direct upgrade path:

Upgrade from	Supported upgrade path
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Enterprise	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Developer	SQL Server 2016 Developer
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Standard	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Small Business	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Web	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Workgroup	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Express,	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

ÿSQL Server 2008 SP3 Express with Tools, and	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

ÿSQL Server 2008 SP3 Express with Advanced Services	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Express
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Datacenter	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Enterprise	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Developer	SQL Server 2016 Developer
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Small Business	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Standard	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Web	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Workgroup	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Express,	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Express with Tools, and	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 Express with Advanced Services	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Express
SQL Server 2012 SP1 Enterprise	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2012 SP1 Developer	SQL Server 2016 Developer

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2012 SP1 Standard	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2012 SP1 Web	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web
SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express,	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express with Tools, and	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express Management Studio, and	SQL Server 2016 Standard

SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express with Advanced Services	SQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Express

	SQL Server 2016 Developer
SQL Server 2012 SP1 Business Intelligence	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2012 SP1 Evaluation	SQL Server 2016 Evaluation

	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	ÿSQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Developer
SQL Server 2014 Enterprise	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2014 Developer	SQL Server 2016 Developer

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2014 Standard	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2014 Web	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web
SQL Server 2014 Express,	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

SQL Server 2014 Express with Tools, and	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

SQL Server 2014 Express Management Studio, and	SQL Server 2016 Standard

SQL Server 2014 Express with Advanced Services	SQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Express

	SQL Server 2016 Developer
SQL Server 2014 Business Intelligence	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence
SQL Server 2014 Evaluation	SQL Server 2016 Evaluation

	SQL Server 2016 Enterprise

	SQL Server 2016 Business Intelligence

	SQL Server 2016 Standard

	SQL Server 2016 Web

	SQL Server 2016 Developer

Before moving to SQL Server 2016, ensure that all the features that you are using are supported in the current release. Search the below table to find out.

Features of 2016	Sub-Feature	SQL Server 2016	SQL Server 2014	SQL Server 2012	SQL Server 2008 R2
Performance	In-memory OLTP*	Yes	Yes	No	No
	In-memory ColumnStore*	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Real-time operational analytics*	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Resource Governor*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Query Store	Yes	No	No	No
Availability	AlwaysOn*	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Enhanced virtualization support and live migration	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Security	Always Encrypted*	Yes	No	No	No
	Transparent data encryption*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Row-level security	Yes	No	No	No
	Dynamic data masking	Yes	No	No	No
	Backup encryption support	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Fine-grained auditing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Separation of duties	Yes	Yes	Yes
Programmability	JSON support	Yes	No	No	No
	PolyBase queries over Hadoop data**	Yes	No	No	No
	Temporal	Yes	No	No	No
Cloud-ready	SQL Server Stretch Database	Yes	No	No	No
	Backup to Azure	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Disaster recovery to Azure*	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Optimized virtual machine images in Azure gallery	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Management	Distributed replay	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Policy-based management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Business intelligence	Modernized reports	Yes	No	No	No
	Mobile BI*	Yes	No	No	No
	Integration services managed as a server	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Pin reports to Power BI	Yes	No	No	No
	Multi-dimensional semantic models	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Enhanced tabular BI semantic models*	Yes	No	No	No
	Master data services*	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Data quality services*	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Advanced analytics	In-database advanced analytics with R Services	Yes	No	No	No
	Multi-threaded processing of R queries and streaming memory*	Yes	No	No	No

Current Limitations and Unsupported Scenarios

All the SQL Server components must have the same version numbers. You cannot use different build numbers for Reporting, Analysis, Integration or Database Services. They all need to have the same version numbers.
Upgrade from 32 Bit to 64 Bit in-place upgrade is not supported. You need to do a side by side upgrade to a 64 Bit instance since both backup-restore or detach-attach is fully supported.
Cannot add additional feature during the in-place upgrade process. Newer functions can only be added after the upgrade is complete.
32-bit Fail-over clusters are not supported for a direct upgrade to SQL 2016.
Evaluation versions need to be upgraded to a licensed edition before upgrading to SQL Server 2016.
Evaluation editions cannot be upgraded to a clustered installation. Only standalone editions are supported.
64 Bit Editions of earlier versions can just be updated to a 64 bit SQL Server 2016 Edition.
SQL Server 2005 can only be restored with compatibility level 100 and above.
Changing of Editions of SQL Clusters in 2016 is not supported.

I hope this gives you enough information to get you started with SQL Server 2016. Follow the Official documentation from Microsoft as provided below:

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