Exchange Server 2010 End of Support is (Still) Coming
Published Jan 14 2019 09:00 AM 22.2K Views

In April 2018 we blogged about the coming End of Support date for Exchange Server 2010. It’s time for another reminder, but today’s post is extra special. Why? One year from today Exchange Server 2010 will no longer be supported.

What does ‘end of support’ mean?

Exchange Server, like almost all Microsoft products, has a support lifecycle during which we provide new features, bug fixes, security fixes, and so on. This lifecycle typically lasts for 10 years from the date of the product's initial release, and the end of this lifecycle is known as the product's end of support. When Exchange 2010 reaches its end of support on January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide:
  • Technical support for problems that may occur
  • Bug fixes for issues that are discovered and that may impact the stability and usability of the server
  • Security fixes for vulnerabilities that are discovered and that may make the server vulnerable to security breaches
  • Time zone updates
Your installation of Exchange 2010 will continue to run after this date. However, due to the changes and risks listed above, we strongly recommend that you migrate from Exchange 2010 as soon as possible.

What are my options?

We’ve created a page (https://aka.ms/Exchange2010EndOfSupport) where we outline options, but in order to stay supported you essentially can;
  • Migrate all mailboxes to Office 365 and remove all Exchange 2010 servers by Jan 2020, making sure any on-premises servers used for administration purposes are on a supported version.
  • Go Hybrid with Office 365, remove all Exchange 2010 servers by Jan 2020 and make sure any on-premises servers are on a supported version.
  • Stay On-Premises and upgrade to a newer version of Exchange Server.
Clearly, we think moving to Exchange Online and Office 365 is a good idea. We really do believe that’s where you’ll get access to the most secure and productive software with the lowest TCO. But over and above all of that, and in relation to the subject of this post – it gets you out of the upgrade business. If you migrate fully to Office 365 you really don’t need to worry about these big bang version migrations any more. You just have to make sure you keep a much smaller number of on-prem servers up to date, and you’re good. If you do want to stay on-premises don’t forget that you cannot upgrade directly from Exchange 2010 on-premises to Exchange Server 2019. You can upgrade to Exchange 2013 or 2016 directly from Exchange 2010 and we recommend you upgrade to Exchange 2016 if you have the choice. It will give you a longer support lifecycle and more features. Given how similar 2013 and 2016 are from a migration standpoint, it’s also just as easy to go to 2016 as it is 2013. So, upgrade to Exchange 2016, and then you have the option to go to 2019 if you want to.

What if I need help?

If you have a complex deployment, or if you just don’t have the time or skills you might need some help. That’s fine, there are plenty of ways to get help. If you're migrating to Office 365, you might be eligible to use our Microsoft FastTrack service. FastTrack provides best practices, tools, and resources to make your migration to Office 365 as seamless as possible. Best of all, you'll have a real support engineer that will walk you through your migration, from planning and design all the way to migrating your last mailbox. If you want to know more about FastTrack, take a look at Microsoft FastTrack. If you run into any problems during your migration to Office 365 and you aren't using FastTrack, or you are migrating to a newer version of Exchange Server, we're still here to help. Here are some resources you can use: You might choose to engage a partner to help too. We have a great number of partners with deep skills in Exchange, and we’re sure one of them will be able to help you. Start your search here.

So what now?

What now? You need to get started if you haven’t already. Time really does fly and Jan 14th 2020 is only a year away. (Tick, tock….) The Exchange Team
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‎Jul 01 2019 04:35 PM
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