Microsoft discontinues extended support for its SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 software. For this type of software, Microsoft offers support and security updates for all users for 5 years and extended support for 5 more years. Thus, extended support for SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 ends this year, as these versions are available since 2009.
The main disadvantage of losing technical support is security. Microsoft offers periodic patches and security updates that keep data safe. Thus, continuing to work with the 2008 versions means being exposed to any attack if a security breach occurs.
In addition, you will not be covered in case of any errors you may experience in your SQL environment. What a nuisance to spend 2 hours on the customer service phone to get the right person to talk to and tell you that they're sorry, but your version is unsupported.
Although the outlook seems dark, losing support is a very good opportunity to upgrade your software to a more modern version. The 2016 and 2017 versions of SQL Server come loaded with new features that will make your job easier. Among them are better performance and speed with improvements in analysis tools, better compatibility (with the 2017 version you can finally work on operating systems other than Windows!) and, above all, an improvement in security: the 2017 version includes encryption and data masking to fight cybercrime.
However, updating the version of Microsoft SQL Server is a complex task. It is important to know the purpose of the DataWarehouse and Business Intelligence environment, its functional scope, architecture, make an inventory of the number of objects available, the different technologies of the Microsoft SQL Server stack and carry out a review of the functionalities or features that may represent greater difficulties in the update. These tasks tend to be very tedious and costly processes.
Bismart offers you to know in 2 sessions the migration possibilities there are, the novelties and improvements that Microsoft SQL Server 2017 offers and the costs that would represent the updating of your Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence environment with a closed price.
We offer you a consultancy proposal to make a diagnosis for the migration. Click on the following button to access your proposal.