As part of the planning stage for a System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) 2012 R2 upgrade I found the support matrix for SCDPM 2012 R2. The matrix shows that support for Windows Server 2003 and 2008 has been removed in the 2012 R2 release.
As I manage some SQL Servers that are running on Windows Server 2003 and 2008 I investigated the upgrade options. Below is a short summary of the latest Windows OS version that is supported on various versions of SQL Server:
SQL Server 2005 supports up to Windows Server 2008 R2 as long as at least SQL 2005 SP3 is installed.
SQL Server 2008 supports Windows Server 2012 R2 as long as at least SQL 2008 SP3 is installed.
SQL Server 2008 R2 supports Windows Server 2012 R2 as long as at least SQL 2008 SP2 is installed.
SQL Server 2012 supports Windows Server 2012 R2 as long as at least SQL 2012 SP1 is installed.
Useful links:
Known issues installing SQL Server on Windows 7 or on Windows Server 2008 R2
Richard Skinner 