Also, Windows Server 2008 is not supported by Microsoft Azure. Why not upgrade to an older operating system? You could upgrade x86 Windows Server 2003 installs to Windows Server 2008, which might give you extended support until 2020, but mainstream support will end on January 13, 2015.

Therefore it makes sense to migrate your applications and data to Windows Server 2012 R2. In effect, running Windows Server 2003 beyond the end of the lifecycle will be a business risk. You won’t get legitimate support from hardware or software vendors.

You can give Microsoft millions of dollars for a year of custom engineering support.

Related: Windows XP End of Support Guide.

They cannot afford the resources to be managing a server OS from yesteryear! Windows Server ‘Threshold’ is expected to be released in April 2015, and Microsoft is also supporting Azure, which is based on Windows Server. Microsoft currently supports Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. It’s a hard date in time that is inflexible. Microsoft will not be extending the deadline to upgrade Windows Server 2003 and R2. I want to be very clear about this next statement, so it is getting its own paragraph: Support for Windows Server 2003 and R2 ends in July 2015. That means no more security fixes on Patch Tuesday, leaving you vulnerable and probably facing compliance issues regarding regulations, such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for credit card payment handling. You have that short of a period to plan, evaluate and migrate your applications and data off of the legacy server OS before Microsoft stops its support. The support from Microsoft for Windows Server 2003 and R2 is ending on July 14, 2015. In some markets, up to 50% of servers are still running this 11-year-old server operating system. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said at the 2014 Worldwide Partner Conference that there are approximately 22 million installations of Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 running in the wild.

By the way, I am limiting myself to five reasons if you buy me beer, I could probably talk your ear off on this topic!ġ. End of Support for Windows Server 2003/R2 It is the age-old question in the IT world: “why should I upgrade to Y when X works perfectly well?” In this article I will give you my top five reasons why I think you should upgrade to Windows Server 2012 R2 (WS2012 R2).

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