{"id":6650,"date":"2015-06-09T12:29:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T16:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southjerseytechies.net\/blog\/?p=6650"},"modified":"2022-04-04T15:49:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T19:49:09","slug":"windows-server-2003-end-of-life-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southjerseytechies.net\/blog\/windows-server-2003-end-of-life-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows Server 2003 end of life guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to organize your migration from Windows Server 2003<\/h4>\n

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Following on from end of support for Windows XP in April 2014, we are now rapidly approaching Windows Server 2003 end of life.<\/p>\n

Despite Microsoft warning about end of life for Windows Server 2003 as early as April 2013, many organisations are yet to begin their migration away from the server platform. Worse still, many organisations and IT pros are unaware of the huge financial costs and security risks should they continue running Windows Server 2003 past the end of life date.<\/p>\n

Reports from HP claim that more than 11 million systems are still running Windows Server 2003. With fewer than 240 days left until end of life, this a huge problem as the estimated time required to migrate a datacentre of 100 or more servers can range from a minimum of three months and upwards of 18 months.<\/p>\n

If you own even one of those 11 million servers and you have yet to begin migration, you should be worried. Luck for you, the following guide will migrate you to a position of safety. We will cover the following:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Windows Server 2003 End of Life date
\n\u2022 Understanding what end of support means for Windows Server 2003 and the associated impacts
\n\u2022 An outline of how to migrate Windows Server 2003
\n\u2022 Resources to aid migration<\/p>\n

Windows Server 2003 End of Life date<\/h4>\n

According to the Microsoft Support Lifecyle section on 14 July 2015, Microsoft will end extended support on all versions of Windows Server 2003\/R2.<\/p>\n

Understanding what end of support means for Windows Server 2003<\/h4>\n

From then on, this means no more updates or patches from Microsoft, which can result a less secure and less stable infrastructure for your business. What this really means:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Maintenance Costs<\/strong> \u2013 running legacy servers is expensive. Intrusion detection systems, advanced firewalls and network segmentation are required to protect a now vulnerable Windows Server 2003 platform. You will also have increasing cost from maintaining aging hardware. Current estimates in a TechNet post from Alex Fu place the cost of custom support post end of life at US$200,000 on average. In a Q&A with David Mayer, practice director of Microsoft Solutions for Insight Enterprises, he estimated a support cost of $1500 per server per year.<\/p>\n

\u2022 No Updates<\/strong> \u2013 there will be no more updates to fix bugs, performance issues and security vulnerabilities. To put this into perspective, 2013 saw the release of 37 critical updates for Windows Server 2003\/R2<\/i>. Past the end of life date, these critical issues will remain unfixed leaving you open to cybersecurity dangers such as malicious attacks or electronic data loss.<\/p>\n

\u2022 No Compliance<\/strong> \u2013 once support ends, your organisation will almost certainly fail to meet industry wide compliance standards. Regulations such as HIPAA, PCI, SOX & Dodd-Frank all require regulated industries to run on supported platforms. The impact is twofold: Non-compliance could result in the loss of business, while high transaction fees and penalties from non-compliance could dramatically increase the cost of doing business.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Software and Hardware Compatibility Issues<\/strong> \u2013 new software and hardware devices will not be built to integrate with Windows Server 2003. Sticking with a legacy server means you will likely run into compatibility issues and may not be able to run new instances of software or communicate with the latest devices.<\/p>\n

\u2022 No Safe Haven<\/strong> \u2013 without continued support from Microsoft, virtualized and physical instances of Windows Server 2003\/R2 and Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2003 will not pass a compliance audit.<\/p>\n

How to migrate from Windows Server 2003<\/h4>\n

Do not underestimate the task that lies ahead. Migrating applications and server workloads is no easy task. Worryingly, a study by App Zero suggests that 62 per cent of organisations do not have a plan to upgrade or migrate, or even know that EOS is coming.<\/p>\n