SQL Server 2008 / R2 End of Support -- Your plans?

Just completed the survey, but I don't mind sharing some of my thoughts.

My team has been working on getting off of 2008 for a good while now (since last fall)

One of the sins of the past, so to speak, has been waiting until the 11th hour to get the applications on-board with understanding the ramifications of loosing support from Microsoft.

There's a handful of things I've tried as a manager to spark the migrations earlier and setup our chances of migration being on time.

1. If you have an internal project manager, leverage them. Ours is extremely aggressive, but kind so she's the perfect resource to give a list of systems and who their owners are and say they need to be off 2008 by a specific date.
2. Be transparent with application owners about the operating system or version of SQL they are going to. Provide changes that have been made since 2008 including standard version of .Net installed, changes you made to the standard deployment to prepare them for a new system.
3. The sooner it's communicated to everyone the better. Set a deadline that's a few months before the end of support. This puts pressure on the app owner and provides a date. There will always be systems that straggle. This gives you a few months to address them. For example, I've told app owners they have until September. I'm already aware of a handful of systems that will be right up against that deadline if not go past it. My team can then focus on those systems and assist where necessary to get all of them over the finish line.
4. Be prepared to have a contingency plan to combat the "It's too complex to move". If you have the opportunity, announce this before the beginning of you budget planning for the next year. This allows for time for application owners to plan for version upgrades or see if they want to continue supporting the app.

ddubuque wrote:

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Be prepared to have a contingency plan to combat the "It's too complex to move". If you have the opportunity, announce this before the beginning of you budget planning for the next year. This allows for time for application owners to plan for version upgrades or see if they want to continue supporting the app.

This seems to come up as the #1 challenge in conversations i’ve had in briefing and meetings, too. I know Windows server 2008/R2 is coming in 2020. Best to get ahead of that wave now.

Thanks so so much for sharing!