How does the End-of-Life for Windows Server 2000 impact Small Business Server 2000?

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By now you’ve probably seen my post about the End-of-Life for Windows Server 2000.  If you still have SBS 2000 in production, this change raises questions with regard to the support lifecycle of SBS 2000 as well.  Let’s talk through that.  Here’s the support statement for SBS 2000:

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Isn’t that clear?  Support for SBS 2000 is dependant upon all of the individual products within SBS, let’s take a look at each of the products and their End-of-Life dates.

The products included in SBS 2000 are:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000
  • Microsoft Exchange 2000
  • Microsoft ISA Server 2000
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000

We already know Windows Server 2003 ends July 13, 2010.

For Exchange 2000, here’s the support page:

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Exchange Server 2000 Server Standard Edition expires 1/11/2011

 

For Microsoft ISA Server 2000, here’s the support page:

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ISA 2000 Standard Edition expires 4/12/2011

 

For Microsoft SQL Server 2000, here’s the support page:

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Microsoft SQL Server 2000 expires 4/12/2013

 

To summarize, support ends for the following products on the expiration dates listed below:

Microsoft Windows 2000, expires 7/13/2010

Microsoft Exchange 2000, expires 1/11/2011

Microsoft ISA Server 2000, expires 4/12/2011

Microsoft SQL Server 2000, expires 4/12/2013

Just because a product’s extended support expires does not mean the product expires, it just means that the support Microsoft offers for the expired product is just online self-help.  There will not be any new fixes released and you won’t be able to call support for assistance.  From a business decision perspective, you could now be putting your business, or your customers business, in a position where you may have limited support options in the event of an emergency. 

If you haven’t already upgraded from SBS 2000, please pay attention to these dates and start planning your upgrade.  Here is the upgrade document that discusses upgrading SBS 2000 and SBS 2003 here.  Here’s the overview of the document:

Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices

Overview

Use this document to prepare your Small Business server and network for upgrade. General best practices for preparing your Windows SBS 2000 or Windows SBS 2003 server for an upgrade are listed here. Learn how to prepare your data, Windows SBS operating system, hardware, and network for a successful upgrade.

This document should help you get started towards a successful upgrade.

Until next time,

Rob

 

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