Admin Level Microsoft Changes For Public Sector
Here we are, heading into mid-October with many seasonal activities upon us such as apple-picking, pumpkin-patch farm going, horror movie binge-watching, drinking or eating pumpkin flavored (fill in the blank), and much much more.
Did I already mention pumpkin-spiced Microsoft Updates?
If not no worries, we got your cup of hot changes coming right up!
Recap of Changes From 10/1-10/6:
- Government & K-12 price changes went live on 10/1
- Windows Server 2019 was released on 10/3 for Volume Licensing customers
- Office 2019 was released on 10/1 for Volume Licensing customers
- Price increases for on-premise products including: Office Client, Enterprise CAL, Core CAL, and server products
Volume Licensing Program Updates:
- EA discounting decreased by as much as 8%
- MPSA agreements are now 14% more expensive
- OVS-ES agreements & renewal products increased as much as 10%
Week 2 Significant Notices & Updates:
End of Service 10/9/2018:
- Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization Service Pack 1
- Microsoft Lync for Mac 2011
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 3
End of Mainstream Support 10/9/2018:
- Windows Server 2016 Datacenter edition, Nano Server installation option
- Windows Server 2016 Standard edition, Nano Server installation option
- Windows 10, version 1703
- Windows 10 Mobile, August 2016 Release
- Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise
- Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2012 Essentials
- Windows Server 2012 Foundation
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
- Windows Server 2012 Standard
- Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Standard
- Windows Storage Server 2012 Standard
As a Microsoft Admin, what should I be more concerned about?
As Windows Server versions are approaching end of mainstream support, discussions should be focused more towards identifying which hosts are running above versions and shelf life of hosts. Not mentioned above, is Windows Server 2008 reaching its last service date on 1/14/2020.
If your county or organization is focused more on just keeping mission-critical apps up and running, one thing to consider is security and compatibility. If you have any instances running Win Server 2008, it may be time to start thinking about migrating internal apps to a newer version that will allow compatibility with those 3rd party software apps.
From a licensing perspective, Windows Server 2016 and newer are licensed differently compared to how Win Server 2008 was licensed. A tip I would recommend to anyone handling licensing is to have notes handy for the amount of cores, virtual machines, and processors for each physical host. This helps in understanding how many licenses are needed if upgrading servers; Windows Server 2016 & above are now on a core-based licensing model.
What about my desktops?
Since on-premise licensing has become more expensive recently, discussions around desktop standards should be started and align with refresh cycles.
What is your current desktop refresh cycle?
What Microsoft apps need to be loaded on new devices and does it differ across departments?
Windows 7 is due for end of life in January 2020 with the possibilities of having an option to extend support via a monthly subscription. Something to consider, as more details are released on extended subscription options, is justifying the cost to extend Windows 7 OS on machines versus the cost to upgrade to Windows 10. If it is going to cost more to support Windows 7 machines going past its last day of service, it would be logical just to upgrade since all new versions of Office & Windows-based machines moving forward will only be supported on Windows 10 OS anyways.
For Office, on premise could be the more expensive and time consuming route in the long run because of Microsoft's push towards Office 365 adoption. Time consuming because there will be more patching involved. For example, Microsoft made Office 2019 click-to-run only so that it is fully optimized for Office 365 use; in addition to that, it will not be supported on Windows 7 or 8.
From an administrator's perspective, if I am planning on keeping most standards on-premise, I would ensure to have the tools & resources needed to readily patch and deploy updates regularly as they are made available to keep all machines secure at least until I am forced to upgrade to the newest on prem license. The pro to adopting Office 365 licensing is that there is no need to send out patches or new instances to machines because all updates are automated through the O365 portal.
Conclusion To Week 2 Changes:
A lot to think about as Microsoft is making it less convenient and more expensive to manage on-premise products. Although it could seem like a very intimidating time to be a Microsoft administrator, I'll make things a bit easier and will break this down into 5 steps to help start the planning today.
- Find out what is & isn't necessary to keep on premise and what could be progressively adopted to Office 365 to offset patching responsibilities
- Identify what is mission-critical on your Windows Server hosts & how long before it will reach end of life
- Road-map a plan to upgrade Windows Servers that will soon be end of life and necessary migration efforts
- Determine if your department has the bandwidth, staff, and expertise to perform necessary migrations
- Meet with your Microsoft Partner to explore licensing options and navigate licensing vehicles that best support your plans
Hope these steps help in making it easier to plan for upcoming projects. Tune in next week for my take of Week 3 Microsoft updates; until then, Ciao!
Credits: Softchoice Microsoft Leadership Team, Richard Nice, Heather Reilly, Microsoft Technet Blog, Microsoft.com