There are many challenges when migrating a platform.  Changing from one Operating System version to a newer one is never an easy task for IT Administrators. It is an exercise that requires careful planning and execution and even with the meticulous details of the implementation, one can never rule out any unforeseen issues along the way. 

We have announced this big event in our previous blog “Windows 2008/R2 and SQL 2008/R2 End of Support : What options do you have?” and we still cannot stop talking about this topic.  It is indeed a big event in this IT landscape as Windows 2008/R2 is such a great enterprise workhorse in the last decade. If your organization is running Active Directory and Domain Services in the past 10 years, chances are you have started it using Windows 2008/Windows 2008 R2 platform.   

Fast forward to this date, what will be the risks and the impact to the companies affected? Will system die and applications stop running? Will it be a doomsday scenario? 

The answer is simply NO. In fact, the applications will still perfectly run smoothly after the EOL date and it will run perfectly until your Windows 2008 Server or application hits a bug that required a fix.  It will be a run it at your own risks scenario and IT Administrators and developers must find a way to fix their issues on their own. 

The biggest risk is the lack of Microsoft Security Updates especially with the current threat ecosystem that all networks, platforms and application are facing these days. Lack of security patches can lead your whole organization and your data susceptible to random or targeted attacks. Running an unprotected platform and no available help from Microsoft is a huge nightmare for any IT Administrator. 

 

Migrate your Windows 2008/Windows 2008 R2 to Azure, get free Extended Security Updates !

Figure 1. Windows Server Support Lifecycle

There are many challenges when migrating your platform.  Changing from one Operating System version to a newer one is never an easy task for IT Administrators. It is an exercise that requires careful planning and execution and even with the meticulous details of the implementation, one can never rule out any unforeseen issues along the way.   

Thanks to Microsoft and Azure, organizations now have an option to plan with a longer transition period!   

One of the options available to customers is the option to migrate servers running Windows Server 2008/R2 to Azure and get extended security updates for three years past the end of support date at no additional cost. In other words, if you choose to run your applications on Windows Server 2008/R2 on Azure virtual machines, you get extended security updates for free.  If you are still in the stage of uncertainty, thinking of your Service Level and Uptime against the Compliance requirements of running a supported platform with the limited time available before the end of support date, moving your workloads to Azure is the logical choice not only for buying time to plan and execute your upgrade, but also to start the cloud transformation of your platform. When you migrate your on-premise Windows 2008/R2 to Azure, you will get: 

·         Security updates in Azure. 

·         Get three more years of Windows Server 2008 R2 or 2008 critical and important security updates, included at no additional charge. 

·         No-charge upgrades in Azure. 

·         Adopt more cloud services as you are ready. 

I have decided to migrate my Windows 2008/Windows 2008 R2 servers to Azure, what do I have to do? 

There are several tools and options that organization can consider to do the migration and this is where Azure Site Recovery comes in.  

Azure Site Recovery lets you easily migrate your Windows Server 2008 machines including the operating system, data and applications on it to Azure. All you need to do is perform a few basic setup steps, create storage accounts in your Azure subscription, and get started with Azure Site Recovery by replicating servers to your storage accounts. Azure Site Recovery orchestrates the replication of data and lets you migrate replicating servers to Azure when you are ready. You can use Azure Site Recovery to migrate your servers running on VMware virtual machines, Hyper-V or physical servers. 

It may sound simple, and it is for a small migration and a skilled engineer or IT Administrator.  But for complex infrastructure and for servers running critical applications, it is encouraged and recommended to work with Microsoft Partners who are experts in this field.  Partners can do assessment and health checks to ensure that your Windows 2008/R2 are ready to be migrated to Azure. At the end of the day, what we all want is a smooth migration, keeping your service uptime and upholding your SLA while keeping compliant with your security and audit requirements by running a supported platform. 

*Superhub can help your organization to migrate you Windows 2008/Windows 2008 R2 platform smoothly.