SharePoint 2013 and SQL Server 2016

Stefan Goßner - November 4, 2016 - 66 Comments

A common question we receive is whether SharePoint 2013 is supported with SQL Server 2016.
The answer here is clear: SharePoint 2013 is NOT supported with SQL Server 2016.
Only the following SQL Server versions are supported with SharePoint 2013:

The 64-bit edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
The 64-bit edition of SQL Server 2012
The 64-bit edition of SQL Server 2014

There are currently no plans to add support for SQL Server 2016.
See here for more details on this topic:

Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint 2013

66 Comments

Andy
On 8. November 2016 Permalink

Hi Stefan,
Great article.
How about SharePoint 2016 on SQL Server 2016?
Thanks,
Andy

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 8. November 2016 Permalink
  
  Hi Andy,
  SharePoint 2016 is supported with Microsoft SQL Server 2016 RTM (and also with 64 Bit Edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 1).
  See here for Details:
  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(v=office.16).aspx#section4
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Andy
On 14. November 2016 Permalink

Thanks a lot Stefan,
May I bother you with one more question?
Is SQL Server 2008 R2 CU3 supported with SharePoint 2010 SP1 ?
Thanks a lot for your help.
Andy

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 14. November 2016 Permalink
  
  Hi Andy,
  that should be supported.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Carol
On 28. November 2016 Permalink

Does SP2016 support content deployment? Thank you.

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 28. November 2016 Permalink
  
  Yes.
  
  Reply
Elton Oliveira
On 29. November 2016 Permalink

Stefan,
Would it be a problem to deploy the SharePoint Server 2013 on SQL Server 2016 by using the compatibility level with SQL Server 2014 SQL Server feature (Production/Development environments)? Taking advantage of this for the natural subsequent question: what about SPS2010 on MSSQLSERVER2014 with MSSQLSERVER2012 compatibility level?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 29. November 2016 Permalink
  
  Hi Elton,
  sorry – that is unsupported.
  It is the product version that counts – not the compatibility level.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Chris
On 4. January 2017 Permalink

Stefan,
Thanks for the great information. Another compatibility question: is SharePoint 2013 supported on Windows Server 2016. I have not seen any official statement to the effect that it is either supported or not supported. Thanks. Chris

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 4. January 2017 Permalink
  
  Hi Chris,
  the supported OS versions are stated here:
  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485.aspx
  “We only support the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter.”
  The last info I got on this topic is that there are currently no plans to support SharePoint 2013 on Windows Server 2016.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
  1. Henning Eiben
    On 5. January 2017 Permalink
    
    Just being a nitpicker – how about Windows Server 2012 R2? That isn’t officially supported for SharePoint 2013?
    
    Reply
    1. Stefan Goßner
      On 5. January 2017 Permalink
      
      Hi Henning,
      indeed SharePoint 2013 RTM does not support it. Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 has been added SharePoint 2013 with SP1 (the slipstream builds available on VLSC and MSDN):
      https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2891274
      Cheers,
      Stefan
      
      Reply
      1. Henning Eiben
        On 5. January 2017 Permalink
        
        I see – I would have expected to see this information in the TechNet article you mentioned above as well, as this would be my first-stop-shop for such informations
      2. Stefan Goßner
        On 5. January 2017 Permalink
        
        Indeed. It seems to be an oversight that this article has not been updated.
        I will open a change request for the article to ensure that it includes this information.
Bryan
On 19. January 2017 Permalink

Is SharePoint 2016 compatible with SQL 2016?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 19. January 2017 Permalink
  
  Hi Bryan,
  Yes it is:
  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff945791(v=office.16).aspx
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
shivraj
On 17. February 2017 Permalink

sharepoint 2013 is supported to win server 2016

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 20. February 2017 Permalink
  
  Windows Server 2016 is not supported with SharePoint 2013:
  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485.aspx
  
  Reply
Isabel
On 20. February 2017 Permalink

Hi Stefan,
For the SQL Server 2016, we found that there was a new build SP1 (https://www.microsoft.com/ja-JP/download/details.aspx?id=54276), we are confusing that if this new SQL Server 2016 SP1 can support SharePoint 2013
Thanks in advance!

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 20. February 2017 Permalink
  
  SharePoint 2013 only supports the SQL versions listed in my post above. SQL Server 2016 (independent from the service pack level) is not supported.
  
  Reply
  1. Wurstsalat
    On 20. February 2017 Permalink
    
    Dont like what i read 🙂
    while Dynamics ax 2013 R3 Added Support for SQL 2016, it still stucks at SharePoint 2013 Support (and wont be added in future)…but SharePoint 2013 is stuck on SQL 2014 :/
    Would great to participate in a whole of the new Features of SQL 2016 and dont have to choose between the versions
    
    Reply
    1. Stefan Goßner
      On 20. February 2017 Permalink
      
      SharePoint 2016 supports Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016.
      So upgrading to the most current version of SharePoint would fulfill your wishes.
      
      Reply
BigPhil
On 8. March 2017 Permalink

You state that SharePoint 2013 is not supported on SQL Server 2016, but I cannot see any reasons why. Is it just that it has not been thoroughly tested on 2016, or are there aspects of 2016 functionality which break SharePoint 2013?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 8. March 2017 Permalink
  
  Hi Phil,
  SharePoint 2013 has not been tested on SQL Server 2016 so we don’t have any info what works and what will break.
  Therefore using SharePoint 2013 on SQL Server 2016 is unsupported.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Mike K
On 6. April 2017 Permalink

This is out of date. I see plenty of pages saying it is supported by Microsoft and they are Microsoft pages.

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 6. April 2017 Permalink
  
  Please show me one.
  Thanks.
  
  Reply
  1. Karl Mikesell
    On 14. April 2017 Permalink
    
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/reporting-services/install-windows/supported-combinations-of-sharepoint-and-reporting-services-server
    2 SQL Server 2016 SQL Server 2016 SharePoint 2013
    
    Reply
    1. Stefan Goßner
      On 14. April 2017 Permalink
      
      SharePoint 2013 can work with SQL Reporting Services from SQL 2016. But SharePoint 2013 databases are unsupported on SQL 2016.
      
      Reply
Georg Gamsjäger
On 18. September 2017 Permalink

Hi Stefan!
I have a Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard with a default instance and common components of SQL Server 2016. I would additional install a named instance e.g. SHAREPOINT on SQL Server 2012. Is it possible to run SharePoint 2013 on this named SQL instance SHAREPOINT?
Regards,
Georg

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 18. September 2017 Permalink
  
  Hi Georg,
  it is possible but recommended to use an alias for this. The benefit is that you can later switch to a different SQL server or SQL server instance by just changing the alias configuration and without the need to reconfigure Sharepoint
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Ben
On 4. October 2017 Permalink

Sorry to ask…
Can Sharepoint 2013’s database reside on SQL 2014 but on a 2016 Server?
So web front end and applications would be 2012r2 but the database would run on 2014 SQL instance sat on a 2016 server.

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 4. October 2017 Permalink
  
  Hi Ben,
  the windows server version of SQL server is not relevant to SharePoint. As long as the Windows version is supported with the SQL version it is fine.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
  1. Ben
    On 4. October 2017 Permalink
    
    Thank you for such a quick reply here. My gold partner re-seller is telling me otherwise! Much appreciated.
    
    Reply
Aakash Jethva
On 14. December 2017 Permalink

Hello Stefan,
Is SQL Server 2012 SP4 supported with SharePoint Server 2013 August 2013 CU?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 14. December 2017 Permalink
  
  Hi Aakash,
  SharePoint Server 2013 August 2013 CU is unsupported since April 14th, 2015 – independent from the SQL patch level – as this means that Service Pack 1 of SharePoint 2013 has not been installed.
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/search?alpha=SharePoint%20Server%202013
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
  1. Aakash Jethva
    On 16. December 2017 Permalink
    
    Thanks Stefan for Quick response.
    So, if we upgrade SharePoint to SP1 then will SQL Server 2012 SP4 be supported?
    
    Reply
    1. Stefan Goßner
      On 18. December 2017 Permalink
      
      Hi Aakash,
      for now yes: but support for SP1 will shortly on April 10th, 2018.
      So you better upgrade to SP1 plus April 2017 CU for SharePoint 2013.
      Reference: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/stefan_gossner/2017/12/13/updated-product-servicing-policy-for-sharepoint-2013/
      Cheers,
      Stefan
      
      Reply
Abdul Mannan Nasir - MCP
On 5. November 2018 Permalink

Hi Stefan,

Good Day

Please tell me we have upgraded SQL server of our SharePoint 2013 from SQL 2012 to SQL 2016. Now our all web applications are working except 1. Can you explain is SQL supported now? How come all are working except 1 is not working?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 5. November 2018 Permalink
  
  Hi Abdul,
  SQL 2016 is unsupported with SharePoint 2013 and that will not change.
  You need to upgrade to SP2016 or SP2019 to get support for SQL 2016.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
  1. Abdul Mannan Nasir - MCP
    On 5. November 2018 Permalink
    
    Thank you Stefan for clear cut clarification. Thanks alot 🙂
    
    BR
    Abdul Mannan Nasir
    
    Reply
Pablo Herman
On 15. April 2019 Permalink

Hello Stefan,

I found a technet stating that we should run SharePoint 2016 content databases on SQL Server 2016 in compatiblity mode 110.

Symptom

When you use SharePoint Server 2016 together with Microsoft SQL Server version 2016 or 2017, you may notice decreased query performance or increased CPU usage on the database server.

Workaround

SharePoint Server 2016 content databases that are deployed on SQL Server versions 2016 and 2017 are tested and validated to work best with compatibility level 110.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4469993/supported-sql-server-database-compatibility-levels-sharepoint-server

Can you please confirm this?

Thanks,
Pablo

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 16. April 2019 Permalink
  
  Confirmed. With the latest CUs SharePoint automatically changes the compatibility level to 110.
  
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Rosanna
On 12. August 2019 Permalink

Stefan,
would you foresee any farm compatibility issues with this configuration: SharePoint 2016 Farm on Windows 2012 OS. consists of three SQL 2012 servers (one for the farm config db and services databases, separate SQL box for the web apps content databases. (each of our web apps (customers) is provisioned on its own SQL box) I plan to add a new web app to the farm and utilize a SQL 2014 / 2016 SQL box for a new web app? would there be any issues having SQL 2012 and SQL 2016 servers attached to the farm?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 12. August 2019 Permalink
  
  Hi Rosanna,
  I do not see any issues that would be caused by this.
  But I have another concern: Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 are out of mainstream support since around a year now.
  Same for SQL Server 2012.
  Both will be completely unsupported long before SharePoint Server 2016 runs out of support.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Towner
On 20. September 2019 Permalink

Hi Stefan
What is your opinion on this scenario:
I have SharePoint 2010 on Windows server 2008 for internet zone and I’m thinking of migrating to newer versions of each.
How would you go about this migration?
What versions of SP, SQL and Windows server would you recommend?

Reply
Manoj
On 17. October 2019 Permalink

Hi Stefan,

Could you confirm below statement.

SharePoint 2013 Farm is running on Server 2012 R2
SQL 2012 server is running on Windows 2016 Server.

are will able to connect our SharePoint 2013 Farm to SQL 2012 Database server( SQL is running on Win 2016)?

Regards,
Manoj Kumar

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 17. October 2019 Permalink
  
  Hi Manoj,
  the OS version of SQL does not matter to SharePoint.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Guy Amir
On 8. December 2019 Permalink

Hi Stefan,
What about compatibility levels? in the following article its suggested that the performance of SP2016 would increase and SQL resources would decrease in case of using SQL2012 Compatibility level (110) instead of SQL 2014 or SQL 2016 (120 or 130).
This is probably because Microsoft changed the Cardinality Estimator on SQL 2014.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4469993/supported-sql-server-database-compatibility-levels-sharepoint-server

unfortunately, Microsoft didn’t mention anything about this for SP 2013 in any document that i’ve looked in to.

What would be your suggestion for SP2013 in that case? 110 or 100?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 10. December 2019 Permalink
  
  Hi Guy,
  the article was only required as – at the time it was written – SharePoint Server 2016 did not take care of correctly adjusting the compatibility level.
  Current patch levels of SP2016 update the compatibility level during database upgrade installations / patching.
  SharePoint Server 2013 supports the highest compatibility level of the support SQL server versions and you do not have to manually adjust it.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
Jess L. Day
On 7. February 2020 Permalink

Stefan,

We currently have SP2013 running on Windows Server 2008R2 and SQL2012. We have upgraded our virtual infrastructure and would like to upgrade the servers and be able to migrate to the new servers. Would we need to have Server 2012 R2 for the SP Web Front-end, SP Application and SP Database clustered SQL servers; and should we run SQL 2014 on the DB servers or could we do SQL 2016 in compatibility mode? Could any of the servers run newer than MS Server 2012 R2?

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 7. February 2020 Permalink
  
  Hi Jess,
  
  newer OS versions than Windows Server 2012 R2 are not supported by SharePoint.
  In addition SQL Server 2016 is unsupported as well (independent from the compatibility level).
  
  To upgrade to the most recent supported versions you should stick to Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014.
  
  FYI: Upgrading the operating system underneath a SharePoint installation is unsupported.
  You would have to remove the server from the farm, uninstall SharePoint, upgrade the Operating System, run the prerequisit installer again (different OS has different prerequisits) and install SharePoint again.
  Usually customers go the cleaner way and install a fresh machine on newer OS and install SharePoint on it, join it to the farm and remove the SharePoint servers running the older OS from the farm.
  
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
  1. Jess L. Day
    On 7. February 2020 Permalink
    
    Stefan,
    
    Thank you for your quick reply. Your answer is what I expected based on everything else I have read thus far, and it is very good to have the specific confirmation. Also, we were indeed going to build new servers, not try to upgrade the OS. Thanks again,
    
    Jess
    
    Reply
NT
On 21. February 2020 Permalink

Hi Stefan

Please can you tell me if SharePoint 2016 (Build number 16.0.4810.1001) will be compatible with SQL Server SP2 CU11?
Many thanks

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 21. February 2020 Permalink
  
  Hi NT,
  you did not specify which SQL server version you are talking about.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
  1. NT
    On 24. February 2020 Permalink
    
    Hi Stefan,
    My apologies – I was asking about SQL Server 2016 SP2 CU11.
    Many thanks.
    
    Reply
    1. Stefan Goßner
      On 24. February 2020 Permalink
      
      Hi NT,
      SharePoint Server 2016 is compatible with SQL Server 2016. We do not limit the support statement for specific CUs. The CU you outlined was released alreaedy in December and no issues have been reported so far.
      Cheers,
      Stefan
      
      Reply
      1. NT
        On 24. February 2020 Permalink
        
        Perfect – thank you for your response. 🙂
Deva rajan. s.m
On 15. March 2020 Permalink

Hi Stefan , If we bought a license SQL 2019 or 2016 and downgrade to SQL 2014 , Will the SharePoint 2013 support this scenario.

Many Thanks
Deva

Reply
Craig (Windows Architect)
On 20. August 2020 Permalink

I can confirm,

Server 1: Windows Server (2019) Hosting SQL 2016 Std
Server 2: Windows Server 2012R2 Hosting Sharepoint 2013

Working fine.

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 20. August 2020 Permalink
  
  Keep in mind that this scenario is unsupported.
  
  Reply
  1. Nathaniel Wittmore
    On 25. February 2021 Permalink
    
    Of course
    
    Reply
Yassy
On 9. February 2022 Permalink

Hi, Stefan.
Thoughts on Sp2013 on O/S 2008. SQL 2014 on O/S 2019 ? Do you see any issues ?

Thanks,Yassy.

Reply
1. Stefan Goßner
  On 9. February 2022 Permalink
  
  Hi Yassy,
  Windows Server 2008 is unsupported since January 2020. Such a configuration should not be used as it will not receive any security updates.
  SQL Server 2014 is supported on Windows Server 2019 if SP3 of SQL server is applied.
  SQL Server 2014 is supported with SharePoint Server SP1 and current patches.
  Cheers,
  Stefan
  
  Reply
  1. Yassy
    On 9. February 2022 Permalink
    
    Awesome. Thanks for your thoughts. 🙂
    
    Reply
Ramen
On 17. November 2022 Permalink

Hi Stefan
Is this farm configuration supported:
SharePoint 2013 running on Windows Server 2012
SQL 2014 running on Windows Server 2016
Thanks

Reply
Sumeet Singhal
On 12. May 2023 Permalink

Hi, Stefan.

Thoughts on Sp2013 SP1 on O/S 2012R2 & SQL 2014 SP3 on O/S 2012R2 ? Do you see any issues ?

This is just for security updates until we move this last farm to latest version. There is plan already.

Thanks,Sumeet.

Reply

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