End of Support is Coming

End of support for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 is rapidly approaching. On January 14th, 2020 support for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 will end; support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 already completed on July 9th, 2019.

What does this mean for my organization?

End of support means the end of monthly security updates and support from Microsoft. Without Microsoft’s regular security updates and patches to protect your environment, you expose your applications and data running on the platform to several risks. These risks may include the potential for security breaches, attacks, and compliance failure for important regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley, FedRAMP, and others. Read this datasheet for more details.

The requirements for maintaining compliant IT workloads vary depending on the regulation, but almost all of them forbid the use of unsupported software. Even if unsupported software is not officially prohibited, most compliance initiatives require the prompt performance of security patching. With this in mind, it’s particularly difficult for an organization to justify using software for which patches are no longer being created. Perhaps the most critical reason for IT professionals to migrate away from Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 before their end of life date, is that doing so is a matter of self-preservation.

The risks of not upgrading

Neglecting an end of life scenario can save a bit of money upfront; however, the risks associated with ignoring the end of support are far costlier. These issues vary in severity and can be anything – a security breach, an unfamiliar error message, or perhaps a compatibility problem. IT professionals don’t want to be in a situation where they need to explain to management that an issue has occurred, and can’t be addressed, because the workload impacted runs on unsupported software.

We understand that upgrading to a newer version of Windows Server and SQL server can be challenging and requires validation work. However, if your organization isn’t already acting on a plan to migrate and modernize your infrastructure before the end of support, you’re already behind.

Time to modernize

End of support is an ideal time to transform your IT platform and move your infrastructure and applications to the cloud. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to upgrade everything before the end of support deadlines. You cannot wait months and years or dedicate your IT organization to spend time upgrading your critical end of support IT infrastructure.

So how do you quickly ensure you can avoid potential critical security and compliance interruptions? What are my choices from here?

Move your servers to Azure as-is

The good news is Microsoft announced that Extended Security Updates would be available, for FREE, in Azure for 2008 and 2008 R2 versions of Windows Server and SQL Server. This support will be available for three more years after the end of support deadline. Despite this, organizations with the end of support technologies need a quick solution for migrating their IT infrastructure to Azure. Organizations must remain secure and compliant without taking months or years to create a strategic cloud transformation plan.

We often see the struggle to balance these two competing needs with large enterprise organizations who are faced with a myriad of legacy technologies and the pressure to modernize. The options are plentiful, the current infrastructure is complex, and decisions aren’t easy. This common scenario made us rethink how we can approach modernization, both quickly and strategically. Instead, address the immediate need to move out of a data center or end of support technology while working towards a well-thought-out cloud transformation roadmap. AIS CTO Vishwas Lele details this Two-Step approach to Cloud Transformation Journey using a Tactical “Lift-n-Shift” approach to rehost infrastructure on Azure.

Step 1: Move your end of support infrastructure into Azure as-is

Migrate your Windows Server and SQL Server applications to Microsoft Azure and breathe new life into your server infrastructure. The first step of this two-step approach perfectly aligns with the needs of migrating end of support workloads to Azure with minimal to no changes to your existing footprint (and near-zero downtime).

This positions you to:

• Immediately meet deadlines for the end of support
• Remain secure and compliant with critical business & industry regulations
• Quickly leverage Azure capabilities (giving you tangible benefits)
• Generate lasting cost-savings with Microsoft’s financially attractive ability to port your existing licenses to Azure

Some organizations shy away from a Lift-n-Shift approach. On the surface, it may seem wasteful, as we are duplicating your current footprint in Azure. However, by completing this effort in weeks, not months or years, duplication is minimized. Pair this with AIS’s FinOps methodology for cloud financial management best practices and significant savings can be achieved by moving your servers to an Azure-optimized infrastructure. By comparison, running your Windows Servers in AWS could be as much as 5 times more expensive to run Windows Server.

Step 2: Application innovation and modernization

Once you’ve started moving your on-premises infrastructure to the cloud, the modernization efforts begin, and a whole new world of opportunities to transform is realized. Even the modernization of your legacy applications can be accelerated by embracing the services of Azure cloud.

AIS has you covered with the migration of your infrastructure to Azure

With just a few months left for the Windows Server End of Support deadline (with the SQL deadline already passed), updating your IT infrastructure must be a priority to avoid business disruption. Even with standardized processes and years of experience, deploying new versions of Windows and SQL Server is no small task in the enterprise.

Our experts have Azure covered so you can focus on doing business. AIS can help you jumpstart this process with a comprehensive cloud migration assessment. Our program gives you flexibility in gauging readiness to leverage cloud technology for your servers. By using machine learning and data collection, we can provide you a portfolio inventory, data-driven insights, and recommendations to aid in defining your migration strategy. Also, we’ll provide detailed economic costs to run your servers in the cloud. You’ll have a clear line of sight into the cost of running your servers in the cloud, as well as a clear roadmap for migration.

With this assessment, we can quickly prepare your cloud infrastructure and to begin migrating servers to an environment that’s scalable and secure. We can get you migrated soon with our extensive experience and expertise.

Start you Azure migration planning today!

The time to act is now! While most coverage surrounding the end of support appears to emphasize the negative aspects, organizations that approach the situation through the right lens stand to reap the benefits of modernization.

Part of this approach requires organizations to choose a trusted and capable partner with the experience and skillsets to ensure a successful migration. With the impending deadlines quickly approaching, it’s time to take action.

Let AIS accelerate your end of support migration to Azure, starting with a cloud migration assessment, followed up a roadmap and the execution of an expert migration strategy.