What does this mean for you?

Truth be told, nothing exceedingly drastic. SQL Server 2008 & 2008 R2 will continue to function as they have been for you all this time.

Microsoft’s support for SQL Server 2008 & 2008 R2 will continue under the Extended Support phase until 7/9/2019. This announcement is in regards to the end of Mainstream Support only.

Even though extended support will continue for a while, now is the perfect time to start to look into upgrading your SQL Server environment to SQL Server 2014.

(Even if you just want to go to SQL 2012, you will wind up purchasing SQL 2014 licensing.) Steps can be taken to gradually upgrade your environment to run under SQL Server 2014.

You will continue to receive from Microsoft:

[list_circle] [li]Paid support (Per-incident, per hour, and others)[/li] [li]Security update support[/li] [li]Non-security hotfix support, if you purchase an extended hotfix agreement before October 10th, 2014.

The Extended Hotfix Support program is available exclusively to Microsoft customers with Premier Support. Enrollment in the program is on an annual basis and the pricing for Extended Hotfix Support consists of an annual program fee, plus an additional fee for each non-security hotfix that customers receive [/li][li]Product specific information in the online Microsoft Knowledge Base[/li][li]Product-specific information using the Support site at Microsoft Help[/li][/list_circle]

What Microsoft is really taking away is:

[list_circle][li] No-charge incident support[/li][li]Warranty claims[/li][li]Design changes and features requests[/li][li]Non-security hotfix support, unless you purchased the extended support detailed above[/li]

More details about Microsoft’s Support Life Cycle Policy can be found here.

More details regarding the SQL 2008 / 2008 R2 End of Mainstream Support can be found here.

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How Can WaterOx Consulting help me?

Odds are your SQL Server 2008 / 2008R2 environment is running along fine and stable, as far as you know.

You have not even thought a lot about support since things are currently running just fine.

Let us work with you to ensure things continue to run just fine, and probably even better than ever before!

We can perform system, configuration, and process checks as well as offer many other consulting services for SQL Server.

We will work with you to determine the best route to upgrade your systems to SQL 2014 taking advantage of as many features as possible to give you the best “bang for the buck” (also known as ROI).

Upgrading to a new version and licensing model of SQL Server is no easy task

We have been through many different types and sizes of upgrades and updates to SQL Server environments and are ready to help you through yours.

Contact us now to schedule a free initial consultation to learn just how we at WaterOx Consulting can help you today to prepare for tomorrow.

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