End of support woes!
Hello folks,
Every few years I hear the same chorus of voices shouting “What do you mean, Windows Server (insert version here) is out of support??? Why did you not notify us?”.
This happened in 2015 with Server 2003, again in 2020 for 2008/2008R2, and now it’s already started regarding 2012/2012R2.
It is our responsibility as IT professionals to keep track of the lifecycle of our environments and to inform/prepare our management of the lead-time, effort and budgets required to address these events. Therefore, a long time ago (2011), Microsoft defined its lifecycle policy to address this and make it more predictable and consistent for easier planning.
The Fixed Lifecycle Policy applies to many commercial and some consumer products currently available through retail purchase and/or volume licensing. It provides:
- A defined support and servicing Lifecycle timeline at the time of product launch.
- A minimum of five years Mainstream Support.
- An additional period of Extended Support for some products.
Please refer to the Lifecycle product search for specific end of support dates and details for the products that your environment depends on. Keeping our environments up to date, patched and supported is one of the best way to ensure a stable environment.
Cheers!
Learn more
- This article was written for the Monthly TechNet UK IT Pro Newsletter – sign up today!
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