Make SQL Server end of support the start of your AWS cloud journey

Let’s face it. End of support (EOS) –three words that can unsettle any IT professional– is the last thing you want to hear about for your mission-critical applications. It creates additional work for you to deal with the upgrades and causes downtime for your end users. The Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server end of support is a recurring challenge that you are all too familiar with. Isn’t it time for a change?

As SQL Server users, you know the pattern of regular software sunsets and required upgrades every few years. One of the most immediate EOS events is for SQL Server 2014 on July 9, 2024. SQL Server 2016 is also facing end of support on July 14, 2026. After the EOS date, Microsoft will no longer provide critical patches or security updates, potentially exposing your applications and business to serious risks.

What if this moment of disruption could be the catalyst for transformation, propelling your organization into a future of enhanced agility and innovation? Rather than seeing this as a burdensome problem to address, consider it an opportunity to reimagine the future state of your SQL Server workloads. By evaluating options to migrate and modernize your SQL Server environment to the cloud, you can unlock enhanced operational excellence, cost optimization, and the ability to innovate at a faster pace.

AWS – the cloud provider of choice for SQL Server workloads

When it comes to finding the right cloud provider to host and transform your SQL Server workloads, Amazon Web Services (AWS) stands out as the clear leader. A recently-released IDC Infobrief – Running SQL Server Workloads in the Cloud – reports that a clear majority of Microsoft SQL Server users chose AWS as their primary cloud provider when polled. In fact, AWS is the top cloud provider choice (52%) – more than the next six cloud providers combined.

For the last 16 years, customers have continued to choose AWS for migrating, optimizing, and modernizing their SQL Server workloads due to several key advantages. AWS significantly lowers the total cost of ownership by reducing SQL Server license costs by an average of 45% and offering tools to save on infrastructure and licensing. AWS provides flexible licensing options, allowing you to bring your own licenses (BYOL) or use a license included (LI), pay-as-you-go model to simplify compliance management.

AWS also fosters innovation through database modernization with services like Amazon Aurora, offering high performance at one-tenth the cost of commercial databases. Additionally, AWS delivers an easy-to-use experience with tools like AWS Launch Wizard, along with the most secure, extensive, and reliable Global Cloud Infrastructure supported by our unique culture of security.

Finding the best pathway for your SQL Server workloads in the cloud

At AWS, we understand each customer’s scenario is unique, and that’s why we meet customers where they are. We work backwards from each situation to provide a full spectrum of choices for customers who want to migrate, optimize, and modernize their SQL Server workloads on AWS.

When facing the impending SQL Server EOS, no matter which cloud adoption stage you are at, you will find the best pathway with AWS to achieve your operational and business goals. Three common pathways are rehosting, replatforming, and refactoring.

1. Rehost to Amazon EC2 for SQL Server. Rehosting, also known as “lift-and-shift,” allows you to migrate your existing SQL Server workloads to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) without any application changes. This approach is ideal if you want to protect your existing license investments, maintain full control over the infrastructure, and get to the cloud quickly. Rehosting to Amazon EC2 also provides a familiar administration experience and flexible licensing options. With AWS Compute Optimizer, you can save up to 25% on infrastructure through instance rightsizing, and up to 73% on licenses through SQL Server edition downgrading recommendations.

Salesforce deployed its data tier on AWS by rehosting its on-premises SQL Server databases on Amazon EC2. The most critical piece of Salesforce’s solution is its massive SQL Server deployment, which comprises the heart of the data tier for Marketing Cloud. Salesforce found Availability Zones to be robust and highly available, and by deploying SQL Server using AWS, it can quickly reach new geographies that have data residency regulations. Instead of spending 1 year setting up a new data center locally, Salesforce can deploy in 4–6 weeks using AWS. Salesforce is now better equipped to meet the changing demands of the digital marketplace and is able to continue to innovate rapidly—without spending a lot of time and resources on infrastructure.

For SQL Server version upgrades after rehosting, Microsoft provides upgrade documentation for in-place upgrades, side-by-side upgrades, and rolling upgrades—including the supported upgrade paths for each version of SQL Server. As one more way to help you with SQL Server upgrade, we published a blog post that shows you how to do an automated in-place upgrade of SQL Server on Amazon EC2.

2. Replatform to Amazon RDS for SQL Server. For customers who want to offload undifferentiated database management tasks, replatforming to Amazon RDS for SQL Server is an attractive option. Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a fully managed service that handles provisioning, configuration, patching, backups, and high availability, freeing up your team to focus on innovation rather than infrastructure. For applications that require operating system and database customization, we offer Amazon RDS Custom, which now allows you to Bring Your Own Media (BYOM) to save on license costs.

iCIMS, a talent acquisition software vendor, improved performance by migrating nearly 6,000 databases to Amazon RDS for SQL Server. After investing in Amazon RDS for SQL Server, iCIMS has seen a positive return on investment, including enhanced scaling and more time for teams to focus on the company’s purpose. iCIMS saw a 25–30 percent reduction in database CPU usage, with browser search response times cut by more than 40 percent. The company also experienced improvements in database management tasks, such as maintenance, patch management, and audit and compliance, by using fully managed Amazon RDS for SQL Server features. This freed up its engineers to focus on value-added tasks that benefit its customers while accelerating its path to innovation.

3. Refactor to Amazon Aurora or AWS purpose-built databases. The most transformative path is to refactor your SQL Server workloads to take advantage of purpose-built databases like Amazon Aurora. By rearchitecting your applications to leverage these databases, you can unlock significant cost savings, performance improvements, and the ability to innovate at a faster pace, unencumbered by legacy database constraints.

Talabat, an online food delivery company, chose to modernize from SQL Server to Amazon Aurora. “One of the reasons we chose Aurora was the serverless technology and the scalability that using it provides,” says Ashif Shaikh, senior database administrator at Talabat. As a result, Talabat realized an over 20% improvement in overall application performance, experienced an over 60% improvement in database reliability, and freed up company time and resources to focus on innovation and overall business transformation.

Regardless of the path you choose, AWS provides a range of tools and programs to streamline the migration and modernization process. For example, AWS Optimization and Licensing Assessment can help you right size your deployments and maximize your licensing investments. The AWS Database Migration Service can help you securely and quickly move databases to AWS, while the AWS Schema Conversion Tool automates the conversion of application code for modernization. Babelfish for Aurora PostgreSQL allows you to accelerate SQL Server modernization to Amazon Aurora.

Embracing change as a catalyst for innovation

Rather than seeing the SQL Server EOS as a burden, consider it an opportunity to transform your data infrastructure and unlock new levels of agility, cost optimization, and innovation. By choosing the cloud that runs and modernizes SQL Server best, you can future-proof your business and position it for long-term success.

Whether you decide to rehost, replatform, or refactor your SQL Server workloads, AWS has the breadth of services, depth of expertise, and proven track record to guide you every step of the way. By partnering with AWS, you can confidently navigate the transition to the cloud, minimize disruption, and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever before.

Don’t let the SQL Server EOS catch you off guard. Embrace it as the start of your cloud journey and unlock the full potential of your data and applications with AWS. Get started with a free Migration Assessment today.

AWS has significantly more services, and more features within those services, than any other cloud provider, making it faster, easier, and more cost effective to move your existing applications to the cloud and build nearly anything you can imagine. Give your Microsoft applications the infrastructure they need to drive the business outcomes you want. Visit our .NET on AWS and AWS Database blogs for additional guidance and options for your Microsoft workloads. Contact us to start your migration and modernization journey today.