ADR 0003 — Windows Server 2019 Until Advanced Edition BYOL

Status: Accepted (D2)

Context

IBM Spectrum Symphony 7.3.2’s base release supports Windows Server as a compute/management host OS [ibm.com/docs/en/spectrum-symphony/7.3.2?topic=systems-windows-support]. Running Windows Server 2022 specifically requires Fix 601711. Fix Central — IBM’s interim-fix distribution portal — is gated behind a paid support entitlement; this project runs under IBM’s Advanced Edition Evaluation (self-service trial, entitlement valid to 2026-12-31), which grants the full Advanced Edition product for trial use but not IBM support or interim-fix access. The eval therefore has no path to obtain Fix 601711 today.

Separately from the fix-access question, both Windows Server 2019 and 2022 are Red Hat-certified guest operating systems for OpenShift Virtualization via Microsoft’s Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) — 2019 since OCP 4.8, 2022 since OCP 4.14 [access.redhat.com/articles/4234591]. So the constraint here is entirely on the IBM licensing/fix-access side, not on Red Hat’s platform-certification side: WS2019 is not a workaround for a missing OCP Virt certification, it is the version reachable under the license this project currently holds.

Decision

Build the golden image and all Windows compute-host VMs on Windows Server 2019 for the current evaluation-licensed phase of the project. Windows Server 2022 stays on the roadmap, gated on procuring Advanced Edition BYOL (which restores Fix Central access) — see ADR 0006.

Consequences

Pros

  • Requires no IBM support entitlement beyond what the free evaluation already grants — the entire Windows compute-plane build (golden image, join, workload test) proceeds at $0 license cost before any procurement decision is made.

  • Follows the certified path, not a workaround: WS2019 has been a Red Hat SVVP-certified OCP Virt guest since OCP 4.8, so this decision trades nothing on platform support — only on which Symphony/Windows-Server combination the current license reaches.

  • Keeps the fix-dependency (601711) explicit and isolated to a single, well-understood gate (Advanced Edition BYOL procurement) rather than papered over.

Cons

  • Windows Server 2019 stays in place until BYOL procurement happens; this project does not independently verify Microsoft’s published WS2019 end-of-life horizon. Open item: confirm the current WS2019 support horizon against Microsoft’s lifecycle policy before committing to it as a long-term production target, not just a PoC choice.

  • Moving to WS2022 later is a revalidation cost, not a config flag: a new golden-image bake, a new SVVP-certified-guest confirmation at whatever OCP version is current then, and re-running the Symphony install/join validation that Phase 2 already paid for on WS2019.

  • The eval entitlement itself expires 2026-12-31; WS2022 + Fix 601711 cannot happen before then under the current license regardless of build readiness — it is gated on procurement timing, not engineering effort.

Continue to ADR 0004: IPsec, then Direct Link.