Microsoft has reminded customers that the Exchange Server 2013 mail and calendaring platform will reach its extended end-of-support date roughly nine months from now, on April 11, 2021.
Released in January 2013, Exchange Server 2013 entered its ninth year of service and has already reached the mainstream end date more than four years ago, on April 10, 2018.
After the end of support, Microsoft will stop providing technical support and bug fixes for newly discovered issues that may impact the servers’ usability or stability.
Admins will also not be provided with security fixes addressing vulnerabilities impacting servers running Exchange Server 2013.
“Exchange Server 2013 will continue to run after this date, of course; however, due to the risks listed above, we strongly recommend that you migrate from Exchange Server 2013 as soon as possible,” said Scott Schnoll, Product Marketing Manager for Microsoft Exchange.
“If you haven’t already begun your migration from Exchange Server 2013 to Exchange Online or Exchange Server 2019, now’s the time to start planning.”
What are the options?
Customers who want to keep their servers running software still receiving bug fixes and security updates for newly discovered flaws are advised to upgrade on-premises servers to Exchange Server 2019.
Before deploying new Exchange Server 2019 installations, you should ensure your network, hardware, software, and clients meet the requirements.
Microsoft also recommends migrating to its hosted Exchange Online email and calendaring client, available as a stand-alone service or via an Office 365 subscription.
“If you’re migrating to Exchange Online, you might be eligible to use our Microsoft FastTrack service,” Schnoll added.
“FastTrack provides best practices, tools, and resources to make your migration to Exchange Online as seamless as possible. Best of all, you’ll have a support engineer walk you through from planning and design to migrating your last mailbox.”
Microsoft 365 migration options and methods you should use are available on Microsoft’s documentation site.
Redmond also provides guidance for global administrators to help decide the migration path in Exchange Online.
Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com