Microsoft warns admins about upcoming Server retirements
Several of Microsoft's Server products will reach end of support in 2022 and 2023. The products are Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2, and SQL Server 2012. Additionally, Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, and SQL Server 2008 and R2, are in their last year of extended security updates.
The lifetime of all products may be extended further. For the 2012 Server products, Microsoft is offering three years of free Extended Security Updates, if machines are migrated to Azure. Only select customers may purchase on-premise extensions. Payments increase from 75% of the full license price in the first year to 125% of the full license price in the third year in that case.
Server 2008 products are already in their last year of Extended Security Updates. Customers may get a free 1-year extension if they migrate to Azure.
Microsoft clarifies that "free" means that there won't be additional charges "above the cost of running the virtual machine".
Here is a quick overview of the important Server deadlines:
- Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 remain supported with Extended Security Updates until January 10, 2023.
- Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 reach end of support on October 10, 2023.
- SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 reached end of support on July 12, 2022.
- SQL Server 2012 reached end of support on July 12, 2022.
Server products that run out of support won't receive any more updates, including security updates but also non-security updates, or technical support.
| Product | Release | Mainstream support end | Extended support end | ESU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2008 | May 6, 2008 | January 13, 2015 | January 14, 2020 | January 9, 2024 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 | October 22, 2009 | January 13, 2015 | January 14, 2020 | January 9, 2024 |
| Windows Server 2012 | October 30, 2012 | October 9, 2018 | October 10, 2023 | October 13, 2026 |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | November 25, 2013 | October 9, 2018 | October 10, 2023 | October 13, 2026 |
| Windows Server 2016 | October 15, 2016 | January 11, 2022 | January 12, 2027 | |
| Windows Server 2019 | November 13, 2018 | January 9, 2024 | January 9, 2029 | |
| Windows Server 2022 | August 18, 2021 | October 13, 2026 | October 14, 2031 | |
| SQL Server 2008 | November 6, 2008 | July 8, 2014 | July 9, 2019 | July 11, 2023 |
| SQL Server 2008 R2 | July 20, 2010 | July 8, 2014 | July 9, 2019 | July 11, 2023 |
| SQL Server 2012 | May 20, 2012 | July 11, 2017 | July 12, 2022 | July 8, 2025 |
| SQL Server 2014 | June 5, 2014 | July 9, 2019 | July 9, 2024 | |
| SQL Server 2016 | June 1, 2016 | July 13, 2021 | July 14, 2026 | |
| SQL Server 2017 | September 29, 2017 | October 11, 2022 | October 12, 2027 | |
| SQL Server 2019 | November 4, 2019 | January 7, 2025 | January 8, 2030 |
Microsoft is offering an Extended Security Updates extension for customers who run SQL Server 2008/R2 or Windows Server 2008/R2. This time though, customers need to move servers to Microsoft's Azure platform to receive "one additional year of free ESUs" according to Microsoft.
For Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2, and SQL Server 2012, the situation is similar. Customers may get up to three years of Extended Security Updates, but they need to migrate to Azure virtual machines for that. The extended security updates come at no cost in that case, according to Microsoft.
Only "eligible customers with Software Assurance under an Enterprise Agreement can purchase Extended Security Updates for Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 and SQL Server 2012 running on-premises".
Customers may also upgrade to newer Server releases. Microsoft recommends Windows Server 2019 and SQL Server 2019 as the main upgrade targets, and to test Windows Server 2022.
Server administrators may want to check the Extended Security Updates page on Microsoft's website for additional information on the upcoming changes.
Unlike Server products, Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system won't receive an extension for another year.
Are these articles AI generated?
Now the duplicates are more obvious.
This is below AI generated crap. It is copy of Microsoft Help website article without any relevant supporting text. Anyway you can find this information on many pages.
Yes, but why post the exact same article under a different title twice on the same day (19 march 2023), by two different writers?
1.) Excel Keyboard Shortcuts by Trevor Monteiro.
2.) 70+ Excel Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows by Priyanka Monteiro
Why oh why?
Yeah. Tell me more about “Priyanka Monteiro”. I’m dying to know. Indian-Portuguese bot ?
Probably they will announce that the taskbar will be placed at top, right or left, at your will.
Special event by they is a special crap for us.
If it’s Microsoft, don’t buy it.
Better brands at better prices elsewhere.
All new articles have zero count comments. :S
WTF? So, If I add one photo to 5 albums, will it count 5x on my storage?
It does not make any sense… on google photos, we can add photo to multiple albums, and it does not generate any additional space usage
I have O365 until end of this year, mostly for onedrive and probably will jump into google one
Photo storage must be kept free because customers chose gadgets just for photos and photos only.
What a nonsense. Does it mean that albums are de facto folders with copies of our pictures?
Sounds exactly like the poor coding Microsoft is known for in non-critical areas i.e. non Windows Core/Office Core.
I imagine a manager gave an employee the task to create the album feature with hardly any time so they just copied the folder feature with some cosmetic changes.
And now that they discovered what poor management results in do they go back and do the album feature properly?
Nope, just charge the customer twice.
Sounds like a go-getter that needs to be promoted for increasing sales and managing underlings “efficiently”, said the next layer of middle management.
When will those comments get fixed? Was every editor here replaced by AI and no one even works on this site?
Instead of a software company, Microsoft is now a fraud company.
For me this is proof that Microsoft has a back-door option into all accounts in their cloud.
quote “…… as the MSA key allowed the hacker group access to virtually any cloud account at Microsoft…..”
unquote
so this MSA key which is available to MS officers can give access to all accounts in MS cloud.This is the backdoor that MS has into the cloud accounts. Lucky I never got any relevant files of mine in their (MS) cloud.
>”Now You: what is your theory?”
That someone handed an employee a briefcase full of cash and the employee allowed them access to all their accounts and systems.
Anything that requires 5-10 different coincidences to happen is highly unlikely. Occam’s razor.
Good reason to never login to your precious machine with a Microsoft a/c a.k.a. as the cloud.
The GAFAM are always very careless about our software automatically sending to them telemetry and crash dumps in our backs. It’s a reminder not to send them anything when it’s possible to opt out, and not to opt in, considering what they may contain. And there is irony in this carelessness biting them back, even if in that case they show that they are much more cautious when it’s their own data that is at stake.