January 13, 2015. That was the date when Microsoft terminated its mainstream support for Windows Server 2008.
Here is the link to Microsoft’s official support schedule for Windows Server 2008.
Generally, Microsoft promises 10 years of support for business and enterprise software. This support period is split up into two periods: Mainstream Support and Extended Support.
Mainstream Support— free security updates and ‘hot fixes’. During this period, which generally runs around 5 years, Microsoft also provides incident support. If you bought an older version of a product, Microsoft limits its mainstream support to 2 years. With Server 2008, Microsoft extended it Mainstream support for a couple of years, but now critical support features will be lost!
Extended Support— at this point (5 years after the release), Microsoft no longer provides a lot of critical support for the product. Extended support essential boils down to continued free security updates, but any additional support—incident support—will require a service change. For Server 2008, Microsoft promises to maintain some support for another 4 years, but will only provide very basic support services. If your server has an issue during the extended support period, you likely will have to pay out of pocket for support.
How can you prepare for Windows Server 2008 End of Life?
First off, remember that support will completely end for Windows Server 2008 January 14, 2020. That’s less than a year from now. You definitely still have time to prepare and protect your business, but please note the clock is ticking! Consider taking the following steps as way to upgrade your systems:
Evaluate which servers are running Windows Server 2008—first step to resolving any issue is defining the problem. Make sure you account for any servers in your environment that are still running Windows Server 2008 as a first step.
Determine software impacted by an upgrade—you are likely running Windows Server 2008 for some reason or another. One likely reason may be because some mission-critical software is dependent on Server 2008 to run.
Identify your budget and timeline to replacing hardware and software—I’m not going to beat around the bush, server upgrades take time and cost money. Make sure you have a timeline that makes sense to get an upgrade done and understand you should anticipate allocating a budget to getting the work done.
For those of you wondering if you can get away with no upgrading and continuing with Windows Server 2008, the clock is ticking! Windows will offer limited extended support to its customers through January 2020, so we would strongly caution you to consider an upgrade sooner than later.
If you have a 2008 Server and want to discuss your options, please give us a call today!
