Windows Server 2012/ R2 End of Support

Windows Server 2012/ R2 reached End of Support on 10^th October 2023. It’s time to decide your next steps, exploring the different options and which solution is best for your organisation.

Windows Server 2012/ R2 has reached End of Support, which means that your estate will no longer receive vital security updates, bug fixes, or online technical support. Action is needed, but it can be difficult to know which route is the best fit for your organisation.

What are your options?

Thankfully, there are several solutions. From on-premise to cloud, there is a next step for every organisation.

Upgrade your on-premise infrastructure to Windows Server 2022

The obvious solution to combating this End of Support is to upgrade to the latest version of Windows Server, giving you the most up-to-date security, hybrid, and application features available.

For organisations needing to stay on-premise, this is a great option. Upgrading your on-premise infrastructure to Windows Server 2022 can be a strategic move to enhance the efficiency, security, and performance of your IT environment, which means you can unlock:

Simplified management with Windows Admin Centre
Stable release cycle with Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC)
Full application compatibility
Cost efficiency

Before upgrading, it’s essential to thoroughly assess your existing infrastructure, ensure application compatibility, and plan the migration carefully.

Introduce Extended Security Updates to your on-premise infrastructure

As well as the option to upgrade to Windows Server 2022, Microsoft have released Extended Security Updates (ESU’s) for Windows Server 2012/ R2. These provide three years of security updates only, not the additional bug fixes or technical support. This will continue until October 13^th 2026, renewed annually. You can get access to ESU’s through the following options:

Azure virtual machines
Azure Arc enabled servers
Non-Azure physical and virtual machines

One thing to note is that you must pay for the entire three-year course of ESU’s. This doesn’t mean you have to pay the three years up front; you just have to backdate any payments you have missed. If you begin utilising ESU’s at any time after the End of Support deadline, you will have to backdate payments to purchase it for the entire time period.

Azure migration

The last option is to migrate your environment to Azure. By migrating your databases and applications to Azure and utilising Azure Arc, you will be able to purchase and seamlessly deploy free Extended Security Updates (for the three-year time period) in on-premises or multi-cloud environments, right from the Azure portal.

You can upgrade to destinations including:

Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Dedicated Host
Azure VMware Solution
Azure Stack HCI

By making the change to Azure, your organisation could save up to 80% of your current spend with the combination of ESU’s and Azure features, while receiving full support from Phoenix specialists.

The benefits of migrating to Azure include: