Those old servers are inefficient and likely unvirtualized, and running at very low utilization. Server vendors didn't get the power management religion until a few years later. Operational costs: If you are running an eight to 12 year old server, then it's an old 32-bit server with barely any power management at all. "A lot of people we know buy parts off eBay," said Tsai. You run the risk of high failure rate, which could mean lost data, and good luck getting replacement parts.
WINDOWS 2003 SERVER WINDOWS
Hardware ills: If you are running Windows Server 2003, chances are very good that hardware is a decade old or older, which means it is long out of support from the vendor and also well past its recommended operational life.
WINDOWS 2003 SERVER UPGRADE
Implications of not migrating off of Windows Server 2003įailure to upgrade your systems can have a variety of consequences:
WINDOWS 2003 SERVER FREE
Windows Server 2003 doesn't have the compartmentalization of the later versions, so once an intruder gains access to the OS, they will pretty much have free reign to move around the system unrestricted. With so much infrastructure built on Windows Server, databases, middleware, applications and other sensitive information can all be compromised by a single unpatched vulnerability. The risk is not limited to the OS itself. For that reason, Microsoft is actively encouraging migration and offering tools to help with the task. With dozens or hundreds of servers in a company, that can run up into the six figures, at which point it would be cheaper to buy new servers with Server 2012 R2 on it. Extended support is priced at $600 per server for the first year and increasing after that. Microsoft won't completely ignore WS2003 it will still offer extended support for a hefty fee, much more than your current service contracts. Then they face even greater challenges, because they will be on the hook for security breaches and data losses, and the government is likely to take a dim view of a company that didn't upgrade an obsolete server operating system because it couldn't afford it. Some assume that they are behind a firewall and think since no one can get into their network they have a false sense of security," said Peter Tsai, content marketing manager with Spiceworks.įor firms that will not make the move by July, it falls on them to protect and harden their servers, especially if they are in a heavily regulated sector governed by rules like SOX, HIPAA, PCI, NERC and others. There is some complacency there and people aren't paying attention to the risk. "One of the top barriers to migration is the fact there is no immediate need, because if it's not broken don't fix it.
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Moreover, companies surveyed by Spiceworks, that weren't fully migrated yet plan to finish their migration in the next six to 12 months (12%), beyond the next 12 months (3%) or don't know if/when they will be done (10%). Just how many companies will this affect? Bit9, an endpoint security firm, estimates that there are currently nine million Windows Server 2003 installations worldwide, and about 2.7 million of them will still be deployed come July 14, meaning there will be 2.7 million unprotected servers on July 15 vulnerable to zero-day exploits. Microsoft said "we have found in our research that the effectiveness of anti-malware solutions on out-of-support operating systems is limited." Microsoft intends to stop sending updates to anti-malware definitions and the engine for Windows Server 2003. Microsoft is not just ending Windows Server 2003 support, it is also ending support for System Center Endpoint Protection or Forefront Endpoint Protection on Windows Server 2003.
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While many firms are working to migrate their applications and data off aging servers as quickly as possible, a fair number are not migrating for a variety of reasons including the financial cost. Microsoft will officially end support for Windows Server 2003 on July 14, 2015.