Microsoft has announced big changes that will be affecting Microsoft Server 2012 on 14 January 2020. Here at Pioneer Solutions, IT Support London we have you covered. We can help, advise, upgrade or migrate to the latest Microsoft Windows Server operating system.

Firstly if you are unsure of the term “End of Life”, this means in technology terms, end of support. Microsoft will not be providing any Windows updates. This can be detrimental as you will no longer receive any security patches, which help protect machines from harmful viruses, spyware and other malicious software.

If you have Windows Server 2012 R2 then you will be pleased to know that Microsoft have announced extended support until 10 October 2023. We previously wrote a blog on the End of Life of Microsoft Server 2008 R2, which you can read here.

I have Windows Server 2012 R2 – should I consider moving now or wait?

The current version of Microsoft Windows Server is 2019. Although October 2023 seems like a long time away, you should not leave this on the back burner. There is a lot to consider when migrating servers and data.

With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we would also recommend considering hosting your servers in the Cloud, giving you the flexibility of working from home and minimising the equipment you have in your office(s). We would highly recommend designing the hosted solution with Geo-redundant storage (GRS) for disaster recovery scenarios. Even the biggest hosting providers have outages and we have seen recently OVH, who unfortunately had a fire wiping out their main datacenter in, you can read the blog here.

GRS copies your data synchronously three times within a single physical location in the primary region using Local Redundant Storage (LRS). It then copies your data asynchronously to a single physical location in a secondary region that is hundreds of miles away from the primary region.

What should I do?

With cyber attacks on the rise, cyber security has become a necessity in todays world. Running applications and storing data on servers that are not compliant or on an operating system that is unsupported creates significant risk to you and your business. You have the option of purchasing extended security updates, which will buy you some time on your current version. Alternatively, you have the option to upgrade to Windows Server 2019.

How do I migrate or upgrade?

If it sounds complicated, don’t worry. We can advise, plan, demonstrate the pros and cons and provide you with a cost analysis, with no obligation.

As certified Microsoft Partners, we can help you in either scenario, so feel free to speak to one of our Server Migration experts today.

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