PI Server on Windows 2016: Upgrade Before January
Move Your PI System to a Supported Server Without a Data Gap
If your PI Data Archive, PI AF server or interface nodes run on Windows Server 2016, they stop receiving Microsoft security updates after 12 January 2027. The way through is a planned migration to Windows Server 2022 or 2025, with new servers built beside the old ones, buffering covering the switch, and a cutover you rehearse before you do it.
Done that way, the archive keeps every value, operators keep their displays, and the people downstream in Power BI or the monthly production report see no break in the data. The work is mostly inventory and sequencing. Very little of it is technically hard, and most of the risk sits in the parts nobody has looked at since they were installed.
This guide is for the OT engineer, site systems lead or IT infrastructure manager who owns a PI System and has just seen the date. It covers what to inventory, which order to move things in, where cutovers usually go wrong, and how the change interacts with your security obligations.
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The Dates That Apply
Microsoft's lifecycle policy sets the end of extended support for every edition of Windows Server 2016 at 12 January 2027. Mainstream support ended in January 2022. After January, no further security updates ship unless your organisation buys Extended Security Updates where Microsoft offers them, which is a paid, time-limited arrangement and worth confirming with your licensing partner before you plan around it.
The SQL Server that sits under PI AF matters too. SQL Server 2016 reached the end of extended support on 14 July 2026. Many AF servers built around 2017 to 2019 run on that pairing: Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016 on the same host. If that is yours, one of its two layers is already unsupported.
Support dates for a typical 2017 to 2019 PI build
AVEVA's own installation documentation for PI Server 2018 SP3 lists Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 as supported hosts for the Data Archive. So the PI software you run today may be happy on a newer operating system without a PI version change. Whether you should also move to PI Server 2024 at the same time is a separate decision, covered below.
Why the Historian Is Usually the Oldest Windows Estate on Site
PI Systems tend to be built once and left alone, because they work. A Data Archive commissioned in 2018 can run for years with nothing more than tag additions. Corporate IT patches the domain controllers and file servers on a cycle. The historian, sitting in the plant network or a site DMZ, often falls outside that cycle, by agreement or by drift.
The result on many sites is a set of servers that were built in the same year and share an operating system. The Data Archive, the AF server, the SQL Server under AF, the PI Vision web server, the analysis and notifications services, and the interface or connector nodes that talk to the control system. All of it reaches end of support on the same date.
From PI System project work for BHP, Rio Tinto and Senex Energy, done while employed by previous consulting employers, the part of a move that takes longest is rarely the Data Archive. It is the interface nodes. They sit closest to the control system, they carry the oldest drivers, and the person who configured them has often moved on.
Inventory Every PI Component and What It Runs On
Start with a complete list. Every server and node that has PI software installed, with its operating system, its SQL Server version where relevant, the PI component versions, and who owns it.
What to record for each PI component before the upgrade
| Metric | What it does | What to check | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| PI Data Archive (and collective members) | Stores the time series | OS version, archive sizes, backup method, collective health | Move first or second |
| PI AF Server | Asset models, templates, analyses config | OS and SQL Server version, database backups | Check SQL 2016 |
| PI Analysis Service and Notifications | Calculations and alerts | Host OS, service accounts, failed analyses | Move with AF |
| PI Vision | Operator and engineer displays | IIS host OS, display count, custom symbols | Test displays |
| Interface and connector nodes | Collect data from SCADA, PLCs, OPC | OS, interface versions, OPC DA or UA, buffering | Hardest to move |
| PI Integrator, Web API, other clients | Feeds to Power BI, ERP, data lakes | Host OS, downstream consumers, credentials | Tell the consumers |
Two details are easy to miss. First, the interface nodes. A site with a dozen PI interfaces may run them on several small servers or virtual machines scattered across control system zones, some built by the control system vendor. Second, the consumers. Every report, model or dashboard that reads PI through the Web API, PI Integrator or an ODBC or OLEDB connection needs to keep working after the move, and someone downstream needs to know the date.
If your AF database has grown without a template discipline, this is also a good time to look at it. A move is the cheapest moment to fix element and attribute naming, as covered in our guide to PI Asset Framework templates that last.
How a Clean PI Migration Runs
The method that avoids data gaps is to build new servers beside the old ones, bring them up in parallel, and let buffering hold the data during each switch.
How a PI System moves to supported servers with no data gap
Back up and restore, then compare
The usual path for a Data Archive is to back up the archive files and configuration, restore them onto the new server, and bring it up as a new collective member or replacement. AVEVA documents the supported methods, and your version determines which apply. Whatever path you take, test the restore on the new server before the cutover day, and compare point counts and a sample of archived values against the old server.
Let buffering carry the switch
PI interfaces and connectors buffer data when they cannot reach the Data Archive. On a well-configured node the buffer holds values during the switch and sends them when the new server is reachable, so the archive has no gap. Check buffering is enabled and sized correctly on every node before you rely on it. A buffer that fills during a long cutover drops data, and that loss is permanent.
Treat the interface nodes as their own project
New interface nodes on a newer operating system are where cutovers most often run long. OPC DA interfaces depend on DCOM, and Microsoft's DCOM hardening changes, enforced from March 2023, broke some OPC DA connections between newer and older hosts. A new node on Windows Server 2022 has that hardening on by default. Test each OPC DA connection on the new node against the live OPC server before cutover week, and use the move to consider OPC UA where the control system supports it.
Should You Move to PI Server 2024 at the Same Time?
Changing the operating system and the PI version in one step means one cutover. Doing them separately means two smaller changes, each easier to roll back. The right answer depends on what you are carrying.
Security is a strong argument for the newer version. In June 2025 CISA published advisory ICSA-25-162-07 for two denial of service vulnerabilities in AVEVA PI Data Archive. CISA's listed fix was an upgrade to PI Server 2024 or later, with PI Server 2018 SP3 Patch 7 or later also addressing one of the two. A later advisory, ICSA-26-041-03 in February 2026, pointed to PI Server 2018 SP3 Patch 8 or higher. A site on an unpatched 2018 release is behind on both counts.
Choosing the upgrade path for your PI System
Whichever path you take, read the release notes for the target version before you choose the operating system. The supported host list, the SQL Server versions AF accepts and any client compatibility notes are the details that decide the sequence.
How This Sits With Your Security Obligations
For many operators the deadline is more than good practice. The Australian Signals Directorate's Essential Eight "patch operating systems" strategy requires operating systems that are no longer supported by vendors to be replaced, at every maturity level. If your board reports Essential Eight maturity, an unsupported historian server is a finding.
Responsible entities under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 have a further reason to act. A critical infrastructure risk management program has to address cyber and information security hazards, and an unsupported server holding the plant's operating record is the kind of hazard it is meant to catch. Our guide to SOCI Act CIRMP obligations covers what the program needs to show.
Network isolation is a reasonable stopgap if the migration cannot finish in time, and only that. A historian that is unreachable from the corporate network is also unreachable from the reports that depend on it, so isolation tends to break the thing the historian is there for.
A Timeline That Still Fits Before January
A site with one Data Archive, one AF server and a handful of interface nodes can usually finish in about ten weeks if the work starts now. Larger estates, collectives and many interface nodes take longer, and the timeline below is a starting shape to adjust.
PI System migration before 12 January 2027
Christmas and New Year shutdowns cut into this window on many sites, and on others they are the only time a cutover is allowed. Book the cutover date with operations first and plan backwards from it.
After the Upgrade: Keep It From Happening Again
The reason so many historians reach end of support at once is that nobody owns them between projects. A migration is a good point to change that. Agree who patches the PI servers, on what cycle and in which maintenance window. Put PI on the same lifecycle register as the rest of the site's servers. Schedule an annual health check that covers archive sizes, buffer status, failed analyses and the next support date.
That ongoing support and improvement work is part of what we do. If your site prefers an outside team for it, our managed AI and support services cover plant systems as well as AI. The same disciplines apply to building and facilities historians, which often run on the same Windows Server generation; our post on AI predictive maintenance for Australian buildings covers that side.
If the upgrade is part of a bigger question about the control system itself, our guide to what a SCADA upgrade really costs covers the tags, drivers and downtime involved. Where the question is whether to stay on PI at all, read our Canary historian vs PI System comparison before you commit to new servers. The broader picture of industrial data work is on our manufacturing and industrial data page.
The lead on every Solve8 engagement spent 18 years on operations and data systems for BHP, Rio Tinto and Senex Energy, gained while working with previous consulting employers. These companies are not Solve8 clients. We are based in Brisbane, with AI and industrial data consulting in Brisbane and work on sites across Australia.
Common Questions
Does PI Server 2018 SP3 run on Windows Server 2022?
AVEVA's installation documentation for PI Server 2018 SP3 lists Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 as supported hosts for the Data Archive. Check the release notes for your exact patch level and for the AF server, whose supported SQL Server versions also matter.
What happens to a PI server after Windows Server 2016 support ends?
It keeps running, but Microsoft stops shipping security updates after 12 January 2027 unless your organisation buys Extended Security Updates where offered. Under the Essential Eight, unsupported operating systems should be replaced, so the server becomes a security finding.
How do you migrate a PI Data Archive without losing data?
Build the new server beside the old one, restore the archive and configuration, and compare point counts and values. Make sure buffering is enabled and sized on every interface node, so values collected during the switch are held and sent once the new server is reachable.
Why do PI interface nodes take longest to upgrade?
They sit closest to the control system, often run older drivers, and may have been built by the control system vendor. OPC DA links depend on DCOM, and Microsoft's DCOM hardening can break connections between newer and older hosts, so each link needs testing on the new node.
Should we upgrade to PI Server 2024 at the same time?
If you are on an unpatched PI Server 2018 release, there is a strong case, because CISA's 2025 advisory for PI Data Archive listed PI Server 2024 as the fix. If you are patched and short on time, moving the operating system first and the PI version later keeps each change smaller.
Get Your Migration Plan
If your historian still runs on Windows Server 2016, the useful first step is a complete inventory and a cutover date agreed with operations. With those two things, the rest of the plan follows, and the data keeps flowing through the switch.
Book a 30-minute scoping call and bring the list of PI servers and interface nodes you know about. We will tell you what we would check first and how we would sequence the move.