On January 14th, 2020, Microsoft will officially retire Windows Server 2008. This means that you will no longer get any updates, including security patches. As a business, you will need to move to a newer server technology for a myriad of reasons, but the most important of these would be security.
As each version of Microsoft’s Servers and Operating Systems are released, a new host of security flaws are discovered by hackers. The horror stories are immense, and you don’t want to have your business disrupted or even destroyed by hackers or malware. There are currently 1098 listed security flaws for Windows Server 2008. Imagine that list growing once Microsoft retires this operating system.
As you decide on which path to take, if you haven’t already, you should definitely consider going with Virtual Servers instead of physical boxes. There are so many reasons to do this, but one of them is getting more CPU for your dollar by doing so. In addition, the newer versions of Operating Systems replicate so easily which gives you added protection and up-time. There are two flavors to choose from : VMWare or Hyper-V. Hyper-V is the hyper-visor included with Microsoft’s operating systems. It works perfectly fine, and for costs reasons is the choice of most business that I work with. VMWare is a more robust platform, although the cost is significantly higher. A comparison of feature sets will be done in a future article.
If you are going to DIY, then read tons of articles and be prepared. If not, you can contact us, or your other favorite local vendor to help you with this task.
