SQL Server end of support options

Applies to: SQL Server 2014 (12.x) SQL Server 2016 (13.x)

This article explains your options for addressing SQL Server products that reach end of support.

Understand the SQL Server lifecycle

Each version of SQL Server comes with a minimum of 10 years of support, which includes five years of mainstream support and five years of extended support:

• Mainstream support includes functional, performance, scalability, and security updates.
• Extended support includes only security updates.

End of support (also sometimes known as end of life) means that a product has reached the end of its support lifecycle. Microsoft no longer provides servicing and support for the product. For more information about the Microsoft Lifecycle, see Microsoft Lifecycle Policy.

Options

When your SQL Server instance reaches the end of support, choose from the following options:

• Upgrade to a current version of SQL Server.
• Migrate your workload to Azure SQL Managed Instance.
• Migrate your SQL Server workload to an Azure Virtual Machine:
  • By upgrading your SQL Server instance to a supported version during the migration.
  • As-is. Subscribe for extended security updates (ESUs) for SQL Server 2016 (13.x). Or, with SQL Server 2014 (12.x), migrate to an Azure VM for free ESUs until the end of the ESU period.
• Subscribe to Extended Security Updates (ESUs).

For more information, guidance, and tools to plan and automate your upgrade or migration, see:

• SQL Server 2016 end of support
• SQL Server 2014 end of support
• What are ESUs for SQL Server?
• Frequently asked SQL Server ESU questions
• ESUs enabled by Azure Arc

The following table summarizes options for a SQL Server instance that is out of extended support:

This article describes the benefits and considerations for each approach, with more resources to help guide your decision-making process.

Upgrade SQL Server

When your SQL Server instance reaches the end of support, consider upgrading to a newer supported version of SQL Server. This option provides environmental consistency, lets you use the latest features, and aligns you with the new version's support lifecycle.

Benefits

• Latest technology: New SQL Server versions bring innovations in performance, scalability, high availability, and security.

• Control: You have the most control over features and scalability, because you manage both hardware and software.

• Familiar environment: If you're upgrading from an older version of SQL Server, this environment feels the most familiar.

• Wide applicability: Suitable for all kinds of database applications, including OLTP systems and data warehousing.

• Low risk for database applications: When the database compatibility matches the legacy system, existing database applications stay protected from functional and performance changes. An application only needs full recertification when it requires features available under a newer database compatibility setting. For more information, see Compatibility certification.

• Comprehensive technical support: You can rely on technical support for a wide range of topics to troubleshoot your operational issues and to mitigate business risks.

Considerations

• Cost: This approach requires up-front investment and involves higher ongoing management cost compared to other options. You must buy, maintain, and manage your own hardware and software.

• Downtime: Depending on your upgrade strategy, downtime might occur. There's also an inherent risk of running into problems during an in-place upgrade process.

• Complexity: If you're on an unsupported version of Windows Server, you also need to upgrade the OS. Newer versions of SQL Server might not support those Windows versions. There's added risk during the OS upgrade process, so doing a side-by-side migration might be the more prudent, yet more costly, approach. In-place OS upgrades aren't supported on failover cluster instances for Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

  Note

  Cluster OS rolling upgrades are available starting with Windows Server 2016.

Resources

• Installation media
• Upgrade SQL Server Using the Installation Wizard (Setup)

The following table provides links to resources for upgrading from SQL Server to a supported version:

Tools:

• The SQL Server migration component in SQL Server Management Studio can help detect compatibility problems that affect database functionality in your new version of SQL Server.
• Query Tuning Assistant can help tune workloads that might experience adverse effects when upgrading the database compatibility.

Lift and shift to Azure SQL Managed Instance

If you want to offload maintenance and reduce costs, consider moving to Azure SQL Managed Instance. A SQL managed instance closely resembles an on-premises SQL Server instance, without the need to worry about hardware failure or patching. SQL Managed Instance is a collection of system and user databases with a shared set of resources that is lift-and-shift ready and can be used for most migrations to the cloud. This option is best for new applications or existing on-premises applications that want to use the latest stable SQL Server Database Engine features and that are migrated to the cloud with minimal changes.

Benefits

• Cost: You save costs by offloading software and hardware maintenance.
• Lift and shift: You can lift and shift your entire SQL Server on-premises instance to a SQL managed instance, including all databases with minimal to no database change.
• Features: It closely matches the features of an on-premises instance of SQL Server, such as cross-database queries, transactional replication publishing and distribution, SQL job scheduling, and CLR support.
• Scalability: Within a SQL managed instance, all databases share resources, and you can scale up and down at any time without downtime.
• Automation: Patching and backups happen automatically, saving you valuable maintenance time.
• Availability: The cost of the service includes both storage and high availability, with 99.99% availability guaranteed.
• Intelligent Insights: Gain insight about the performance of your databases with built-in intelligence analytics.
• Versionless: Azure SQL Managed Instance with the Always-up-to-date update policy is versionless, meaning you're always on the latest version, and never have to worry about upgrading or downtime. Plus, you're always on the latest and greatest, with the latest stable features being released to the cloud first.
• Cross-environment compatibility: If you configure your SQL managed instance with a corresponding update policy you can take advantage of bidirectional failover and cross-environment disaster recovery with on-premises SQL Server 2022 (16.x) or SQL Server 2025 (17.x) instances.
• Low risk for database applications: When the database compatibility is at the same level as the on-premises databases, existing database applications are protected from functional and performance changes that can have detrimental effects. An application only needs to be fully recertified when it requires features available in a newer database compatibility setting. For more information, see Compatibility certification.

Considerations

• Cost: SQL managed instance can be more costly than SQL Server on Azure VMs.
• Transact-SQL differences: While the feature set of Azure SQL Managed Instance is comprehensive, there are some compatibility differences that can impact your existing SQL Server operations.
• Deployment: Deploying a SQL managed instance can take more time than deploying an Azure virtual machine.
• Feature limitation: Although a SQL managed instance shares most features with SQL Server, some features are unsupported.
• Size limitation: The combined storage size for all databases within a SQL managed instance is limited to 32 TB, as opposed to 524 PB for on-premises SQL Server.
• Networking: The networking requirements for a SQL managed instance add an extra layer of complexity to your infrastructure and require either an Azure ExpressRoute or VPN Gateway.
• Maintenance time: You have no guarantee for the exact maintenance time, though it's nearly transparent.

Resources

• SQL Managed Instance overview
• Choosing an Azure SQL option
• Migrate SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance
• Broader migration process

Tools:

• SQL Server migration in Azure Arc
• SQL Server migration component in SQL Server Management Studio
• Azure Database Migration Service (DMS)

Lift and shift to SQL Server on Azure VMs

Another option is to migrate your workload to an Azure Virtual Machine running SQL Server. You can migrate your system as-is and keep your end-of-support SQL Server, or you can upgrade to a newer version of SQL Server. This option is best for migrations and applications requiring OS-level access. SQL Server virtual machines are lift-and-shift ready for existing applications that require fast migration to the cloud with minimal or no changes.

Benefits

• Cost-saving: You save the cost of hardware and server software, only paying for hourly usage.
• Lift-and-shift: You can lift and shift your SQL Server and application infrastructure into the cloud with minimal or no changes.
• Hosted environment: You get the benefits of a hosted environment, such as offloading hardware and software maintenance.
• Automation: If you're on Windows Server 2008 R2 and later versions, you get the benefit of automated patching and automated backups.
• OS Control: You have control over the operating system environment, but with the familiar feature set of SQL Server.
• Rapid deployment: You can quickly deploy from a library of virtual machine images.
• License mobility: You can bring your license, allowing you to decrease operating cost.
• High availability: You benefit from the built-in virtual machine availability by the Azure infrastructure with up to 99.99% availability, and take advantage of SQL Server high availability options such as failover cluster instances and Always On availability groups.
• Low risk for database applications: When the database compatibility is at the same level as the legacy databases, existing database applications are protected from functional and performance changes that can have detrimental effects. An application only needs to be fully recertified when it requires features available under a newer database compatibility setting. For more information, see Compatibility certification.
• Free SQL Server 2014 (12.x) Extended Security Updates: If you choose to keep your SQL Server 2014 (12.x) as-is, you can get free ESUs for three years past the end of support date by migrating to SQL Server on Azure VMs, even without having Software Assurance. For SQL Server 2016 (13.x) ESU, you can subscribe to ESUs.

Considerations

• Manageability: You still need to manage both SQL Server and operating system software.
• Networking: You need to configure the virtual machine to integrate with your networking and Active Directory infrastructure, which adds complexity.
• Shared storage FCI: Azure virtual machines only support failover cluster instances that use Storage Spaces Direct or Premium File Shares. They don't support a failover cluster instance that uses shared storage. As such, Azure virtual machines only support failover cluster instances when using Windows Server 2012 and later versions.
• Scalability downtime: You have downtime while changing the CPU and storage resources.
• Size limitation: Although the SQL Server instance can support as many databases as needed, the cumulative total of all databases for a single instance of SQL Server is 256 TB, as opposed to 524 PB for an on-premises SQL Server.

Resources

• SQL Server on Azure VM overview
• Choosing an Azure SQL option
• Migrate SQL Server to an Azure VM
• Extend support for SQL Server with Azure
• What are Extended Security Updates for SQL Server?
• Detailed ESU frequently asked questions
• Automated Patching for SQL Server on Azure virtual machines
• Automated Backup for Azure virtual machines (Resource Manager)
• Business continuity and HADR for SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
• SQL virtual machine frequently asked questions

Extend support with ESUs for existing environment

If you're not ready to upgrade, and you're not ready to move to the cloud, you can subscribe to Extended Security Updates (ESU) to receive Critical security updates for up to three years past the end of the support date.

Benefits

• Application support: Choose this option if your application needs recertification on a newer version of SQL Server. This option is common for applications that don't use Compatibility certification.
• Consistent infrastructure: You don't need to change your infrastructure in any way.
• Time: This option is available for three years, giving you extra time to certify your applications.

Considerations

• Limited availability: Only customers with Software Assurance or subscription licenses can use this option.
• Cost: This option can be costly, as ESUs are approximately 75% of the on-premises license cost annually.
• Limited time frame: You can use this option for only three years. You need to upgrade or migrate at the end of the three-year period to ensure your security and compliance.
• No bug fixes: If you encounter a non-security bug with the product, Microsoft won't release a fix for it.
• Limited support: ESUs don't include new features, functional improvements, or customer-requested fixes. Security fixes are limited to fixes rated as Critical by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). Technical support is limited to issues directly related to the released updates.

Resources

• What are Extended Security Updates for SQL Server?
• Detailed ESU frequently asked questions
• Extend support for SQL Server with Azure
• Software Assurance

Migrate to Azure VMware Solution

Azure VMware Solution allows you to run your VMware environment in Azure by using familiar tooling and a quick migration path.

Running SQL Server 2014 (12.x) on Azure VMware in this environment provides you with the free ESU benefits extended to running in Azure. For information on how to configure ESUs in Azure VMware Solution, review: ESUs for SQL Server and Windows Server in Azure VMware Solution VMs. For SQL Server 2016 (13.x) ESU, you can subscribe to ESUs.

Lifecycle dates

The following table provides an approximation of lifecycle dates for SQL Server products. For more details and accuracy, see the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy page.

Related content

• SQL Server 2025
• What are Extended Security Updates for SQL Server?
• Extend support for SQL Server with Azure
• SQL Server on Azure VM overview
• SQL Managed Instance overview