Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 and SQL Server 2012 are now out of support but it’s possible to purchase Extended Security Updates licences to receive security updates for a further three years for these products. The idea of ESUs isn’t new, but what IS new is that 1-year ESUs are now available through CSP (rather than just an EA/EES) and there’s a new PAYG option for ESUs through Azure Arc. This is a great page to learn more: https://bit.ly/3QBfgnn, and to get links to further information.
Tag Archives: SQL Server 2012
SQL Server 2012 End-of-Support options
SQL Server 2012 comes to the end of support on 12 July, 2022 when no more security patches will be issued. Customers might upgrade to a newer version of SQL Server at this time, or perhaps purchase Extended Security Updates, or move to Azure where security patches are free.
You can find a useful article comparing the options, including moving to AWS, here: https://bit.ly/3NsSkmJ.
Updates to Extended Security Updates
Extended Security Updates are critical if you want to continue safely running Windows Server and SQL Server workloads on versions that are out of support.
Extended Security Updates have been available for SQL Server/Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 since support ended, but will themselves end on July 9, 2022 and January 14, 2023 respectively. If you’re running these older products in Azure then you get 3 years of free Extended Security Updates, and Microsoft have just announced that one more year of Extended Security Updates will be available only on Azure.
It’s also time to think about support ending for SQL Server 2012 on July 12, 2022, and for Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 on October 23, 2023. 3 years of Extended Security Updates will once again be available and, again, they will be free for customers running these versions in Azure. Customers will also be able to purchase ESUs through an Enterprise Agreement for on-premises workloads if they have active Software Assurance on their licences. They will just need to buy licences for the servers they need to cover, and costs will be 75% of the licence cost for the first year, 100% of the licence cost for the second year, and 125% of the licence cost for the third year.
You can find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3zg0KWL, find a datasheet here: https://bit.ly/3hMnNm6, and access a Customer FAQ here: https://bit.ly/3iskboG.
Core Factor Table
BizTalk Server 2013 is licensed with the Per Core model and thus the Core Factor table has been updated to include it. Get the BizTalk and SQL Core Factor table here: http://bit.ly/1cgrHc3
Microsoft VL Blog – SQL DR rights v Failover
SQL Server fail-over versus cold disaster recovery rights – a useful Microsoft Volume Licensing blog entry comparing these two rights: http://bit.ly/19MjkF9