By Ian Amaranayake
Many organisations who have yet to act are busy planning their transition onto new operating systems versions, but with time ticking, it’s worth knowing the official position from Microsoft.
As terminal as it sounds, it may be possible to prolong your Windows Server 2012 server’s life through applying Extended Security Updates (ESU). Please note whereas these updates are free for platforms hosted on Microsoft Azure, they do come at a price for on-premise customers and will be available to those with active Software Assurance or those on subscription licenses.
ESU’s also need to be renewed on an annual basis but will provide up to an additional three years of security updates.
As for ‘End of Support’, what this effectively means is that there will be no more security updates, updates, bug fixes, or technical content updates released for new issues or security vulnerabilities by Microsoft. Crucially, this also means technical support will no longer be available.
At Katalyze Data, we support many varying analytics platforms or different shapes and sizes. Whereas an in-place upgrade is possible, it does present risks, and most of our customers and partners are electing to rebuild their physical or virtual analytics platforms with the latest version of Windows, followed by a rebuild of their analytics estate and a migration of content.
With time running out, organizations must plan for life without Windows Server 2012. Failure to act could leave your platforms, users, and processes exposed to undue risk.
At Katalyze Data, our technical team is busy working with our customers to plan for the necessary change, and we would be delighted to help your organization too. Availability of our technical team is already limited through to September, so we recommend you act now to ensure your place!
Please reach out to us for a free, no-obligation consultation.