Server 2008 and Small Business Server 2011 End of Support

January 14th 2020 as already reported will be the End of Support for Windows 7, but along with this comes the End of Support for Windows Server 2008 and Small Business Server 2011 (SBS 2011) along with a few other Microsoft solutions.

What does this mean if you are still running Windows Server 2008 or SBS 2011?

In terms of functionality, the Server Operating System will still run.  However Microsoft will no longer be releasing security updates or patches to protect the system. Up until 14th January 2020 Microsoft will continue to release security patches.  Following the 14th January 2020 this will cease, which could leave the Operating System vulnerable.

What should you do in preparation?

If you are running Server 2008 or R2 then migrating to a later server version (Windows Server 2019) would be our recommendation.

Small Business Server 2011 brings with it potential additional challenges depending on usage. SBS was introduced as an all in one solution for Small Businesses.  SBS 2011 offered not only the features included within the standard Windows Server 2008 Operating System, but also the ability to host your Business Email through Exchange and also document management through Sharepoint on premise.

Unfortunately, if either the Exchange or Sharepoint features are being utilised on the SBS 2011 Server then planning is required.  Following SBS 2011 Microsoft changed the features included in their lower level server products. From Small Business Servers, Microsoft introduced Essentials Server licensing as the lower tier of Server licensing.  BUT… Essentials, does not include Exchange and Sharepoint features, so changes will need to be made.
Our recommendation would be to migrate email and Sharepoint services to Microsoft Office 365, which would provide a newer, better service without the maintenance and cost overhead of implementing on premise replacement infrastructure.

Our Services

At SBS IT Ltd we have vast experience of Server infrastructure as well as cloud services offered by Microsoft and other providers. We have thousands of mailbox migrations under our belts as well as lots of implementation and migration experience for OneDrive and Sharepoint.

If you have any questions about how this impacts your business or infrastructure or would like to discuss our Services, please Contact Us