End of support for Windows 2003 – what this means for you

The July 14th 2015 is going to be an important date for Microsoft. They are ending all support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2.

This means that Microsoft will no longer provide patches, updates for those versions of Windows. This means that after July 14th 2015 any sites or applications running on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 may be vulnerable to new security threats or encounter new issues/bugs that will not be fixed by Microsoft in the future.

So if you have any application running on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 R2 then you need to take action now to ensure you are supported in the future and protected from new threats or issues.

I’m an EPiServer customer, does this affect me?

If you are running an older version of EPiServer then your site may be running on a version of Windows that is affected. This means you may be in a situation where Microsoft does not support the operating system your EPiServer site is running on and be vulnerable to security threats or bugs in Windows that will not be fixed. If you are running a recent version of EPiServer then you are probably not affected, however some older versions of EPiServer could run on Windows Server 2003 so you will need to check if you are affected using the list below.

The following versions of EPiServer will definitely be affected:

• EPiServer CMS 5 (all versions)
• EPiServer CMS 4 (all versions)

The following versions of EPiServer may be affected:

• EPiServer CMS 6 R2
• EPiServer CMS 6
• EPiServer CMS 5 R2 SP2
• EPiServer CMS 5 R2 SP1
• EPiServer CMS 5 R2

Your EPiServer options

You have until July 14th 2015 before Microsoft ends support but you should starting planning what you want to do now:

• Upgrade – EPiServer has always supported migrations between versions so you could upgrade your site to the latest version of EPiServer whilst still getting value from your licence subscription
• Rebuild – This approach allows you take to take advantage of the great new features of EPiServer and modernise your site design whilst still getting value from your licence subscription
• Take custom support from Microsoft - There is likely to be a charge for this and you must have a migration plan in place. Also you must have a Premier Support contract with Microsoft
• Accept the risk – EPiServer or the server it is running on is not going to stop working after this date, though you will leave yourself open to new threats affecting Microsoft software

What should I do now?

If you are an Everweb customer, meaning that EPiServer provide your managed service, then we will be performing an inventory of customers affected. Any customer affected will be contacted individually as a part of our managed services commitment.

If you are not an Everweb customer and think you may be affected you can get in touch with your local EPiServer office to discuss your options or talk to your partner.

More information

More information about this matters can be found on Microsoft’s website:

• http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/server-cloud/products/windows-server-2003/
• http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftservices/support.aspx

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