Spade Technology: Blog

Do You Have A Plan For Microsoft Server 2008 End Of Life?

Planning For Microsoft Server 2008 End Of Life

If you’re still running Windows Server 2003 or running Hyper-V on a Windows Server 2008 R2 platform, it’s time to start planning your migration process. Why?

On January 14th, 2020, Microsoft will be ending support for Windows Server 2008 R2 altogether.

It’s vital that you make plans for migrating away from this soon-to-be unsupported technology as soon as possible. Updating your environment is a big task and many IT companies are going to be booked up by the time the deadline is here.

All three available editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 will be unsupported once the deadline is reached. This includes:

  • Datacenter
  • Enterprise
  • Standard

Windows Server 2008 R2 is tightly integrated into the day-to-day operations of many organizations, which means the end of support is bound to result in quite a bit of disruption. Microsoft will offer extended support after the deadline if you’re willing to pay for an extended security plan, however, it’s more cost-effective in the long-run to simply complete the migration process.

What Should You Be Doing To Prepare?

The simplest course of action is to start planning your move to a newer system:

  • Upgrade to a newer version of Windows Server/SQL Server: This is a good choice if you’re looking to remain on-premises, but remember, there isn’t a direct upgrade path without performing a clean install, which means you’ll need to upgrade to Windows Server 2012 first to preserve settings.
  • Migrate to Microsoft Azure: Microsoft Azure, the cloud computing service offered by Microsoft as a modern alternative to their older server operating systems. In addition to protecting you from an unsupported operating system, upgrading to Microsoft Azure will offer a number of benefits, such as three additional years of Critical and Important security updates at no additional charge, as well as the many features of Microsoft Azure.

Need Expert Assistance With your Migration Plan?

Whether you like it or not, End Of Life is a natural part of the IT life cycle. You have to learn to live with it.

No matter what hardware or software you use, eventually it’ll reach the end of its life. Every Windows operating system has a lifecycle. It’s important that you stay up-to-date about essential End-of-Life dates.

This will help you make informed decisions about when to upgrade or make other changes to your software or hardware. Furthermore, we will help you make informed decisions about when to upgrade or make changes to your other software or hardware.

If you need help in managing End Of Life, allow us to assist – our IT services team in Boston can assist in building a plan for migrating.

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