Navigating SQL Server upgrades: strategies for modernization
SQL Server 2014 reached the end of extended support on 9 July 2024, which ended its security updates, its patches and its technical assistance in one day. Frank Gill covers what running an unsupported version actually exposes a business to, and how an upgrade gets planned and executed without taking production down.
Free to watch. No registration.
What the session covers
- What end of life actually ends. Security updates, patches and technical assistance all stop together, which is a different exposure from a version simply being old.
- The security position of running it anyway. The increased exposure to known threats, and the legal position of an unsupported database in a production environment.
- Compliance. How continuing on SQL Server 2014 affects obligations under standards including GDPR and HIPAA, and what the penalties attach to.
- What a supported version gives back. The security, performance, scalability and feature position of a current release, against the inefficiencies of staying.
- Planning and executing the upgrade. Assessing the current estate through to minimizing downtime during the migration, step by step.
Who it is for
Database administrators
Planning the upgrade and answering for the downtime window it needs.
IT professionals on a deadline
Where an end-of-support date is already in the calendar and the plan is not yet written.
Decision-makers
Weighing the cost of upgrading against the compliance and security exposure of not.
After the session
The session ends on other people's environments
The last part of the recording is a question and answer segment on specific estates, which is usually the most useful part of a session like this and the part a written summary cannot carry.
If your own environment is the question, the same conversation is available directly, and an upgrade assessment answers it with findings rather than with general advice.
- Migrations and upgrades. The engagement that plans and runs the upgrade this session describes.
- More sessions. Every recorded webinar, all free and all published in full.
Every version reaches this point eventually
SQL Server 2014 is the example, and the reasoning applies to whichever version is next on your estate. An assessment establishes which of your databases are approaching a support boundary and what each upgrade would take.
Let us show you what's possible.
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