Exchange Server 2010 End of Support is (Still) Coming

[The_Exchange_Team]

In April 2018 we blogged about the coming End of Support date for Exchange Server 2010. It’s time for another reminder, but today’s post is extra special. Why? One year from today Exchange Server 2010 will no longer be supported.

What does ‘end of support’ mean?

Exchange Server, like almost all Microsoft products, has a support lifecycle during which we provide new features, bug fixes, security fixes, and so on. This lifecycle typically lasts for 10 years from the date of the product's initial release, and the end of this lifecycle is known as the product's end of support. When Exchange 2010 reaches its end of support on January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide:

• Technical support for problems that may occur
• Bug fixes for issues that are discovered and that may impact the stability and usability of the server
• Security fixes for vulnerabilities that are discovered and that may make the server vulnerable to security breaches
• Time zone updates

Your installation of Exchange 2010 will continue to run after this date. However, due to the changes and risks listed above, we strongly recommend that you migrate from Exchange 2010 as soon as possible.

What are my options?

We’ve created a page (https://aka.ms/Exchange2010EndOfSupport) where we outline options, but in order to stay supported you essentially can;

• Migrate all mailboxes to Office 365 and remove all Exchange 2010 servers by Jan 2020, making sure any on-premises servers used for administration purposes are on a supported version.
• Go Hybrid with Office 365, remove all Exchange 2010 servers by Jan 2020 and make sure any on-premises servers are on a supported version.
• Stay On-Premises and upgrade to a newer version of Exchange Server.

Clearly, we think moving to Exchange Online and Office 365 is a good idea. We really do believe that’s where you’ll get access to the most secure and productive software with the lowest TCO. But over and above all of that, and in relation to the subject of this post – it gets you out of the upgrade business. If you migrate fully to Office 365 you really don’t need to worry about these big bang version migrations any more. You just have to make sure you keep a much smaller number of on-prem servers up to date, and you’re good. If you do want to stay on-premises don’t forget that you cannot upgrade directly from Exchange 2010 on-premises to Exchange Server 2019. You can upgrade to Exchange 2013 or 2016 directly from Exchange 2010 and we recommend you upgrade to Exchange 2016 if you have the choice. It will give you a longer support lifecycle and more features. Given how similar 2013 and 2016 are from a migration standpoint, it’s also just as easy to go to 2016 as it is 2013. So, upgrade to Exchange 2016, and then you have the option to go to 2019 if you want to.

What if I need help?

If you have a complex deployment, or if you just don’t have the time or skills you might need some help. That’s fine, there are plenty of ways to get help. If you're migrating to Office 365, you might be eligible to use our Microsoft FastTrack service. FastTrack provides best practices, tools, and resources to make your migration to Office 365 as seamless as possible. Best of all, you'll have a real support engineer that will walk you through your migration, from planning and design all the way to migrating your last mailbox. If you want to know more about FastTrack, take a look at Microsoft FastTrack. If you run into any problems during your migration to Office 365 and you aren't using FastTrack, or you are migrating to a newer version of Exchange Server, we're still here to help. Here are some resources you can use:

• Technical community
• Customer support

You might choose to engage a partner to help too. We have a great number of partners with deep skills in Exchange, and we’re sure one of them will be able to help you. Start your search here.

So what now?

What now? You need to get started if you haven’t already. Time really does fly and Jan 14^th 2020 is only a year away. (Tick, tock….) The Exchange Team

[#2]

Will hybrid installations be cut off on Jan. 14, 2020, if they include any Exchange Server 2010 servers?

How long will Exchange Server 2013 be supported in hybrid installations?

[#3]

Hey Rob, good question. We will not cut off Exchange 2010 installations, but they won't be supported. The recommendation therefore would be to move all servers to a newer version of Exchange before Jan 2020. Exchange Server 2013 Extended Support ends 4/11/2023 - so if you have 2010 today, upgrade to 2016 - that will give you the most breathing space.

[#4]

The main reason i use Exchange Server 2010 in our company and in all of our clients/customers companies is because they not want to use any cloud service. Also our clients/customers don't want to use any cloud service or mobile apps (UWP) on desktop computers.

Newer versions of Exchange Server remove the Exchange Management Console (EMC), the Exchange Control Panel and Microsoft is deprecating the SmartScreen Anti-Spam and other useful features in order to move to cloud services ONLY.

Deprecating SmartScreen and not launching more SmartScreen updates for Exchange is the worst decision that Microsoft has been able to make. I do not understand any of the latest decisions so unintelligent that Microsoft is taking that go against the users and only benefit Microsoft itself. It's only just a matter of money and how being able to cash in.

Because of this we have no options with Microsoft because the first two options are cloud services and the third options is a downgrade to a newer version of Exchange. I don't know why since 2010 every new versions in all Microsoft Products are downgrades except for SQL Server and some any other program/application. I think this is due to the new Microsoft "Mobile First, Cloud First and Desktop never again" policy.

I know that today Microsoft is only Mobile First, Cloud First and Desktop never again, but our company and all of our Clients/Customers companies, more than 100, don't want and will never use any cloud service and will never pay a subscription for software services, SaaS, cloud services, etc. They want their personal and private servers not connected to any service. Also don't want the slow, limited, less featured mobile apps (UWP) on desktop.

We even have clients who, in order to entrust us with certain jobs, force us to sign a contract in which we have to declare and demonstrate that they will be carried out on computers that are not connected to any cloud service.

All of our clients/customers are stick in Windows 7 with all Telemetry disabled, because in Windows 10 is also imposible to block all telemetry, imposible to control Windows Updates, imposible to delete all mobile UWP garbage apps and with a terrific and a nightmare ugly user interface without a decent Start Menu and with less, less, less features and options configurations than Windows 7, like Advanced Appearance Settings and more. With every update there are less options/features in Control Panel and "Settings" is a mobile UWP app garbage mess.

It's time to search and look for new desktop solutions that are not from Microsoft, because Microsoft is not an option today and is not an option to the future because is migrating all to the cloud, to services and to mobile. DESKTOP and PRIVATE SERVER never again.

Thanks Microsoft for all these years with such good products that you have had until recently but is time to say goodbye to Microsoft.

Bye, bye, Microsoft.

[#5]

Exchange 2010 has been the most modular version of exchange that allows extensive security implementation and high availability. All newer version (Exchange 2013 to 2019) deviates from modularity and downgrade back to Exchange 2003. It appears the new CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, has a different agenda that deviates from maintaining enterprise class products and solutions.

Almost every products and solutions driven by the Microsoft CEO lacks forward technology advancement. Instead, he wants to turn back the clock to the good old days of Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. Please be advised that O365 is a cut down platform of the On-Premise products and solutions that provides limited customization and integration and should only be applicable for businesses less than 500 On-Premise users.

High utilization of WAN bandwidth will cost your business as an end result, and there have been many complaints around this area that O365 was implemented without the completion of a business assessment. Businesses that were forced or blindly adopted O365 are faced with complexity of excess bandwidth utilization, limited integration, and limited flexibility. Out of fairness and honesty, some businesses have failed because of this. Today businesses are dynamic.

Azure and O365 are for business that does not have the intellectual property to maintain and/or manage their own datacenter. For medium and large enterprise class businesses, be very careful in planning, designing, and implementing any 2013 to 2019 application server products/solutions from Microsoft. Extensive analytics with capacity planning is required before migrating away from the 2010 series of Microsoft Application Server SET.

If your organization is driven by Microsoft Products and Solutions, please do not implement VMware as a virtual solution. Event logs in Microsoft Products and Solutions can isolate the exact failure. Failure caused by VMware will not be address by the VMware Corporation as VMware neglect to fix major bugs since 2008. Selection of hardware must be compliant to any virtualization technology.

Hope this helps!