Operational challenges and performance of the LHC during Run II

The CERN Large Hadron Collider Run II saw an important increase in beam performance through both, improvements in the LHC and an increased beam brightness from the injectors, leading to a peak luminosity that exceeds the LHC design luminosity by more than a factor two. This contribution will give an overview of run 2, the main challenges encountered and it will address the measures applied to deal with and make use of the increased beam brightness. Finally potential areas where further performance improvement can be a realized will be identified.