End of Support is Looming...

On 9 July 2019, both SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 will reach the end of their support lifecycle, meaning that critical security updates will no longer be available. For organisations that are heavily regulated, this is a big concern.

What is the impact to my customers?

After the end-of-support date, no new security updates will be released for your Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and R2 based servers. This means that your potentially business-critical applications and services leveraging them will become exposed to outside threats and vulnerabilities. You could risk your business becoming non-compliant with regulations, such as GDPR or PCI. That’s why it’s a good time to take a look to the future and start to prepare to move your SQL databases to a modern, secure platform like Microsoft Azure!

What options are available?

Microsoft is offering several options for customers currently running SQL Server 2008 on-prem to keep their applications, services, and data secure by moving to Azure. Let’s have a quick look at the options:

• Lifting and shifting your current SQL Server and Windows Server 2008 workloads to Azure and benefiting from Microsoft’s limited offer of 3 years of continued security updates for FREE. It is the fastest option that buys you time.
• Taking a bit more time to design your application or service to run on a newer SQL database version on Azure, such as Microsoft SQL Server 2016 or newer versions. This means more work but gets you on a modern SQL server version with support for years to come.
• Moving to a fully managed intelligent cloud database with Microsoft Azure SQL. This option gives you peace of mind and saves time and resources in the long run, with Microsoft managing all needed patching and updates of your SQL server.

What Migration Assessment Tools are available?

If you are planning an upgrade from SQL Server 2008/2008 R2, Microsoft has made things much easier to test and validate your environment. Numerous tools exist that can assist with migration assessments and even handle migration tasks, and they’re all slightly different.

Next Steps:

Depending on the organisation, the types of applications and services your customers have, and the migration option chosen, it will take some time to plan the right approach. And Ingram Micro has the right team here in NZ to help you map out the current state and decide the best solution going forward!

Get started now to ensure your customer doesn’t become one of the living dead: [email protected]