Windows Server 2008 R2 End Of Life

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Are you prepared for the Windows Server 2008 R2 End Of Life? 

On the 14th of January 2020, Microsoft will end support for most server products.

These include Windows Server 2008 Data Centre, Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and some Windows 7 Operating systems.

Others that haven’t already had their support ended will be ended on the 14th April 2020.

What does this mean?

Microsoft will no longer release patches or online technical support for these operating systems. 

This means that any vulnerabilities found within those operating systems after that date will be left un-remediated.  Which in turn means they are likely to become targets for Cyber Criminals, as if they are able to find an exploit, they know it is unlikely to be resolved by the vendor and therefore offers a viable attack vector that can be exploited for a long period of time.

A similar vulnerability exposed within a supported operating system is likely to be fixed within days or weeks, removing the attack vector as long as the system is patched.

What do I need to do?

Your IT support team or Managed Service Provider should by now have either migrated all applications or data off those operating systems or have a plan in place to do so. 

If this has not happened, it is important to understand your current estate. How many servers do you have running those operating systems and how many client machines you have using Windows 7?

Once you know this, it is important to plan how to migrate those systems to a newer operating system. 

This may be a simple process or more involved depending on the IT infrastructure and whether you are using applications which can be migrated to a newer Microsoft Operating system.  The likelihood is that a Windows 7 migration to Windows 10 is going to be easier to plan and execute than the server-side upgrades required. This is a technical topic but we are happy to offer advice if you need it.

What if I cannot migrate by January 14th, 2020?

There is an option of purchasing extended support updates from Microsoft after January 14th 2020.  This will provide the continuation of updates marked as critical or important by Microsoft. 

However, it should be noted that this will not include Microsoft Technical support for those operating systems. Be aware that not all server products will be eligible for extended security updates.

Some of these include the Hyper-V Server, and most storage server options.

Learn about the full list on here.

For advice on how to prepare for Windows 7 End Of Life:

Contact our team of skilled engineers on +44 (0)203 475 8732 or

Email: info@tribeca-it.com

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+44 (0)203 475 8733

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+1 347 690 1190

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+852 5808 4824

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+353 1901 4077