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Read more and get in ocntactSQL Server 2008 reached End of Service on July 9th, 2019, disrupting the day-to-day operations of many organizations. By not taking the initiative to upgrade, organizations won’t only miss opportunities to achieve operational efficiency, but they will no longer receive continued security updates, compromising their Cyber-Security and leaving their network open to attack.
As a result, it should be a top priority for organizational leaders to upgrade their SQL Server deployment. However, creating a roadmap to accomplish this deployment as smoothly as possible requires considerable research for informed decision making. Read on to learn more about the considerations to evaluate to choose the best possible SQL Server solution, read on.
When creating a roadmap for SQL 2008’s end of support, it’s important to evaluate the actions that your organization can take. This decision should be made with careful consideration, since every organization has its own unique needs and requirements. When considering which direction to take after SQL EoS, organizations have four main paths:
With the inevitable conclusion of support for SQL Server 2008 approaching, there are a few key considerations for decision makers to ponder. By keeping these four considerations in mind, your organization will be more prepared for SQL EoS.
To help determine which option is best, organizations should consider where SQL is being used in their environment. This will help organizations determine the size of the potential migration, along with how business-critical or sensitive the information stored in these databases is.
First, organizations should ask if any instances are business critical. If a significant amount of business-critical information is stored in these databases, the best decision is usually to upgrade to SQL 2017. SQL 2017 has the benefit of being located on-premises or in the cloud, and as a result it will cause less of a disruption for business processes and workflows. This way, hiccups in upgrading your SQL solution will be minimized.
Another situation to consider is regulatory requirements. Using Azure SQL can occasionally cause problems with software compliance, depending heavily on specific license agreements. This is because some license agreements forbid deployment in cloud environments. Alternatively, keeping SQL 2008 could cause a range of compliance challenges, meaning its generally a wise decision to not maintain a SQL 2008 instance following end of support. As a result, it would be wise to ensure that whichever option an organization settles on is compatible with compliance agreements.
Last, consider if there is any sensitive data in your SQL 2008 database. If there is sensitive data, then organizations must ensure that the migration away from SQL 2008 is accomplished on time. Otherwise, an organization could be at serious risk of catastrophic data breaches. To ensure that SQL is constantly up-to-date, consider Azure SQL which automatically updates to ensure a high standard of security in a cloud environment. On the other hand, if your customers are skeptical regarding the security of the cloud, an on-premise solution should be considered.
Organizations seeking to make a roadmap should keep their long-term business goals in mind during the entire drafting process. Ask stakeholders if it makes sense to lift and shift your SQL environment into the cloud, or if it makes more sense to rebuild the SQL environment in SQL 2017.
Also, ask if there are any other motivations besides digital transformation initiatives causing an inclination towards Azure in particular. If your organization can justify a move to Azure based on other initiatives, it makes perfect sense to make a migration to Azure sooner rather than later to better align with digital transformation goals.
Before implementing any changes to your organization’s SQL environment, it is important to identify and involve influential stakeholders.
Once the best possible SQL solution has been determined, it is necessary to identify any sources of overspending that may exist in your chosen SQL solution. For example, if all stakeholders agreed to upgrade to Azure SQL, it is important to ensure your servers are right-sized and all existing entitlements are leveraged correctly.
Alternatively, no matter which solution is chosen, organizations must scan for potential licensing and compliance issues across the organization’s Microsoft Stack. Organizations should try to resolve any sources of overspending before upgrading to the new version of the SQL, and continue to optimize spending while their chosen version is being deployed.
With SQL 2008’s end of support having already passed the deadline, organizations must create a firm, comprehensive roadmap to minimize challenges. Creating this roadmap is complicated and requires a great amount of expertise and planning. For organizations that wish to draw on an expert’s advice and ensure they are moving in the best possible direction, consider taking a look at our Microsoft Advisory Services.
Use our expertise to roadmap your upgrade process.
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