Are you Prepared for Windows 7 & Server 2008 R2 End of Life?

‘End of Life’ operating systems can provide significant challenges for a business. When a product reaches End of Life, the support for it ceases, including new features, fixes and crucially in the age of increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks, security updates. While the systems may still technically run, they will no longer be protected from the latest threats and breaches, leaving the network potentially vulnerable.

The answer is to upgrade before this happens, but many businesses leave their migration until too late, leaving them exposed. Remember Windows XP? It is estimated that 3% of the world’s computers are still running Windows XP, which is now unsupported ‘abandon-ware’, putting them at risk of cyber-attacks or just plain instability.

Time to plan

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, Microsoft’s very popular operating systems are currently in extended support. That means that in a little over a year’s time, in January 2020, they will reach End of their support lifecycle.

If you rely on either of these systems, it’s time to start planning your next move.

What are the options?

For the users, Windows 10 brings a raft of new features and although it looks different, most will pick up general navigation quickly - once on the desktop it will feel very familiar.

For a systems admin there’s more to consider. There are new features and applications built in, as well as whole raft of new Group Policy options and a new lifecycle model based on Windows as a Service (WAAS).

On the server front, Windows Server 2012 R2, 2016 and now 2019 are are all supported and valid operating systems to consider moving to. Although always recommended to utilise the latest operating system to leverage the most current security and feature sets, there may be elements of your environment or licensing restrictions that make the 2012 system a better option.

What should I do to get ready?

Upgrading to new versions of operating systems is always difficult, but the key to a successful upgrade or migration is planning. Firstly, you will need to start considering:

·      Application compatibility

·      3rd party integration support

·      Delivery mechanisms

·      Training

·      Resources to complete the work

Completing workshops and discovery to establish a clear baseline position, set of goals and obstacles is a key prerequisite to working through the rest of the process, which will include design and validation through to testing and pilots.

Azure – another option

To help customers who have systems on Server 2008 R2 and to encourage clients to ‘dip their toes’ into the cloud infrastructure world, Microsoft have provided an additional solution option.

If you migrate your Server 2008 R2 servers to Azure IAAS, Microsoft will continue to provide Critical and Important security updates to those hosted servers for a period. This provides an alternative solution, and is an interesting proposition for clients who may be considering their cloud options.

What next?

CAE can help customers to understand the best upgrade or renewal options for their particular server or desktop estates. Helping to maximise the potential of the later versions of operating systems, CAE also ensures that businesses remain on a viable version to provide stability of services whilst helping to navigate the new features.