Last week, a new white paper was released that discusses supportability roadmaps for ISVs. The white paper is Testing and Developing Supportability Roadmaps for Independent Software Vendor Applications.
What a mouthful… aren’t you glad you aren’t working at an ISV? Well, even if you aren’t I’d recommend reading this white paper because it applies to every environment.
The reason this white paper applies to everyone is that the pain highlighted in the white paper, is a pain we all have. We often hear complaints about a vendors lack of support of future SQL Server releases. But are we also applying those complaints to ourselves? Do we plan for the future?
Support Framework
A number of years ago, I was out on the Microsoft’s SQL Server Support page. Out there is a page that discusses the lifecycle policy for SQL Server. Were you aware that after 5 years Mainstream Support ends for SQL Server.
This means that as of April 12, 2011 Mainstream support for SQL Server 2005 will end. There will still be Extended Support available if you are into that kind of thing – but for the most part, except for security issues, Microsoft will no longer be updating SQL Server 2005.
Is your organization aware of this? Are you building new applications in SQL Server 2005? SQL Server 2005 won’t cease to function next April, but there will be constraints around what solutions and remedies are available to any issues or bugs uncovered within SQL Server 2005. Is the project worth that risk?
Related posts:
- Do You Patch SQL Server Regularily?
- SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Released
- SSWUG Fall 2010 Virtual Conference This Month
