Server management professionals have little more than a month left of Microsoft support for Windows Server 2003, with the end of extended support date quickly approaching. The Redmond-based company announced several months ago that extended support for the aging server operating system would end on July 14, 2015. According to Microsoft’s support lifecycle, mainstream support for Windows Server 2003 ended in July 2010. Ending mainstream support stopped warranty claims, free technical support, and design changes, but Microsoft will continue providing security updates until it ends extended support in July 2015.
Windows Server 2003 was based in the time of Windows XP, but around 11 million servers and applications are still running it, according to ARN. It’s those high numbers that has APC by Schneider Electric urging server management professionals to migrate to a newer version of the Windows before they lose access to valuable support.
Although the end of extended support date was announced several months ago, some companies are still likely wait until the last second to upgrade their servers. Some server management professionals may not have even been made aware of the date until recently due to a lack of coverage. TechRadar reports that the end of extended support for Windows Server 2003 has only received about five percent of the coverage that the end of extended support for Windows XP received.
For those that still have machines running Windows Server 2003, Microsoft released the Windows Server 2003 Migration Planning Assistant to aid in the process of upgrading to newer software. The planning assistant offers access to resources that will detail each step in migrating from Windows Server 2003 to a newer operating system. More information can be found on Microsoft’s migration planning assistant website.