Nearly 20% of running SQL Servers have passed end of support
(2024/06/17)
- Reference: 1718616554
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/06/17/outdated_sql_server/
- Source link:
Exclusive IT asset management platform Lansweeper has dispensed a warning for enterprise administrators everywhere. Exactly how old is that SQL Server on which your business depends?
According to chief strategy officer Roel Decneut, the company scanned just over a million instances of SQL Server and found that 19.8 percent were now unsupported by Microsoft. Twelve percent were running SQL Server 2014, which is due to [1]drop out of extended support on July 9 – meaning the proportion will be 32 percent early next month.
[2]
Old SQL Servers linger on – pic: Lansweeper
For a fee, customers can continue receiving security updates for SQL Server 2014 for another three years. Still, the finding underlines a potential issue facing users of Microsoft's flagship database: Does your business depend on something that should have been put out to pasture long ago?
While Microsoft is facing a challenge in getting users to make the move from Windows 10 to Windows 11, admins are facing a similar but far less publicized issue. Sure, IT professionals are all too aware of the risks of running business-critical processes on outdated software, but persuading the board to allocate funds for updates can be challenging.
Decneut, an 18-year Microsoft veteran before joining Lansweeper in 2019, was on the SQL Server 2008 and 2012 launch team. "It was a problem back then, getting people off old versions," he said. "And I think it has to do with, you know, what's the main reason you run a relational database? It's to build apps on top of it. And the stickiness of those applications is what's causing this."
[3]
The inconsistent approach to backward compatibility in decades past may also have played a part. Decneut told us that Lansweeper's agents had picked up a few instances of SQL Server 7. Good luck upgrading a database running on that to the latest and greatest SQL Server.
[4]
[5]
The current SQL Server release is 2022. According to Decneut, Lansweeper found 44 percent of instances running SQL Server 2019. SQL Server 2017 accounts for 13.5 percent, and 2016 only accounts for less than 10 percent before moving on to older, obsolete versions. After SQL Server 2014, at 12 percent, SQL Server 2012 accounts for 9 percent. SQL Server 2008 hovers at just under 8 percent, and so it goes on.
Not that Microsoft is alone in facing the problem of customers sticking with outdated code years – or decades – after support ends.
[6]
Dave Stokes, Technology Evangelist at Percona, told The Register : "On the one hand, I'm not surprised that SQL Server instances are outside support — the adage 'If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it' can apply in tech as much as anywhere else in life. But I'm also aware that it's possible to use this as an excuse to avoid dealing with what can be a hard problem.
[7]UK CMA early findings indicate Microsoft restricts cloud choice
[8]Microsoft consolidates Power BI licenses in line with Fabric platform
[9]Preview edition of Microsoft OS/2 2.0 surfaces on eBay
[10]Postgres pioneer Michael Stonebraker promises to upend the database once more
"It can be hard to make those changes, but that doesn't mean it should not get done. Developers don't want to be tied to an expired database software version. Not only do they miss out on bugs fixed in later versions, but they also miss out on new features and capabilities that make their lives easier."
Stokes also noted that DBAs are similarly reluctant to be limited in this way and invoked the ghosts of COBOL and FORTRAN to illustrate his point.
"Open source databases also suffer from end-of-life challenges," he added. "MySQL version 5.7 reached EOL status last October, but that version represents a large percentage of systems reported by Percona Monitoring and Management. Percona's post-EOL support has been widespread."
For Decneut, the enterprise-level challenge is that there isn't much to entice businesses to upgrade. He said: "A lot of these very basic business applications ... were built to be robust with little frills. All the new features that they're offering aren't enticing anyone because they don't need those things. They just need this thing to run.
[11]
"But, of course, the business model at Microsoft requires that you move to a new version."
Decneut concluded: "It's only when the house is on fire – when there's massive vulnerability – that somebody will go care about that.
"Because already, you know, we're moving to the cloud. We're doing this, we're doing the other, now we're thinking about AI. I think we've got this nasty habit in the world of technology of not really caring enough about what came before.
"Because that's where a lot of the problems come from." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2014
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/06/14/sql2.jpg
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/uk_cma_early_findings_microsoft_cloud_choice/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/01/microsoft_power_bi_licenses/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/20/microsoft_os2_2_0_beta/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/26/michael_stonebraker_feature/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
According to chief strategy officer Roel Decneut, the company scanned just over a million instances of SQL Server and found that 19.8 percent were now unsupported by Microsoft. Twelve percent were running SQL Server 2014, which is due to [1]drop out of extended support on July 9 – meaning the proportion will be 32 percent early next month.
[2]
Old SQL Servers linger on – pic: Lansweeper
For a fee, customers can continue receiving security updates for SQL Server 2014 for another three years. Still, the finding underlines a potential issue facing users of Microsoft's flagship database: Does your business depend on something that should have been put out to pasture long ago?
While Microsoft is facing a challenge in getting users to make the move from Windows 10 to Windows 11, admins are facing a similar but far less publicized issue. Sure, IT professionals are all too aware of the risks of running business-critical processes on outdated software, but persuading the board to allocate funds for updates can be challenging.
Decneut, an 18-year Microsoft veteran before joining Lansweeper in 2019, was on the SQL Server 2008 and 2012 launch team. "It was a problem back then, getting people off old versions," he said. "And I think it has to do with, you know, what's the main reason you run a relational database? It's to build apps on top of it. And the stickiness of those applications is what's causing this."
[3]
The inconsistent approach to backward compatibility in decades past may also have played a part. Decneut told us that Lansweeper's agents had picked up a few instances of SQL Server 7. Good luck upgrading a database running on that to the latest and greatest SQL Server.
[4]
[5]
The current SQL Server release is 2022. According to Decneut, Lansweeper found 44 percent of instances running SQL Server 2019. SQL Server 2017 accounts for 13.5 percent, and 2016 only accounts for less than 10 percent before moving on to older, obsolete versions. After SQL Server 2014, at 12 percent, SQL Server 2012 accounts for 9 percent. SQL Server 2008 hovers at just under 8 percent, and so it goes on.
Not that Microsoft is alone in facing the problem of customers sticking with outdated code years – or decades – after support ends.
[6]
Dave Stokes, Technology Evangelist at Percona, told The Register : "On the one hand, I'm not surprised that SQL Server instances are outside support — the adage 'If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it' can apply in tech as much as anywhere else in life. But I'm also aware that it's possible to use this as an excuse to avoid dealing with what can be a hard problem.
[7]UK CMA early findings indicate Microsoft restricts cloud choice
[8]Microsoft consolidates Power BI licenses in line with Fabric platform
[9]Preview edition of Microsoft OS/2 2.0 surfaces on eBay
[10]Postgres pioneer Michael Stonebraker promises to upend the database once more
"It can be hard to make those changes, but that doesn't mean it should not get done. Developers don't want to be tied to an expired database software version. Not only do they miss out on bugs fixed in later versions, but they also miss out on new features and capabilities that make their lives easier."
Stokes also noted that DBAs are similarly reluctant to be limited in this way and invoked the ghosts of COBOL and FORTRAN to illustrate his point.
"Open source databases also suffer from end-of-life challenges," he added. "MySQL version 5.7 reached EOL status last October, but that version represents a large percentage of systems reported by Percona Monitoring and Management. Percona's post-EOL support has been widespread."
For Decneut, the enterprise-level challenge is that there isn't much to entice businesses to upgrade. He said: "A lot of these very basic business applications ... were built to be robust with little frills. All the new features that they're offering aren't enticing anyone because they don't need those things. They just need this thing to run.
[11]
"But, of course, the business model at Microsoft requires that you move to a new version."
Decneut concluded: "It's only when the house is on fire – when there's massive vulnerability – that somebody will go care about that.
"Because already, you know, we're moving to the cloud. We're doing this, we're doing the other, now we're thinking about AI. I think we've got this nasty habit in the world of technology of not really caring enough about what came before.
"Because that's where a lot of the problems come from." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/sql-server-2014
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/06/14/sql2.jpg
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/07/uk_cma_early_findings_microsoft_cloud_choice/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/01/microsoft_power_bi_licenses/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/20/microsoft_os2_2_0_beta/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/26/michael_stonebraker_feature/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZnAJSqwe9IT7lpu-sIFj9wAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Perennial problem
Joe W
Even worse when the reluctance to change comes from supposedly technical colleagues, and they are unable to forsee these changes, and refuse to put in work to actually turn the thing into a nice, easy to deploy project...
My stuff is pretty robust, and I am really looking forward to have my portion of Schadenfreude when the other guy's work just cannot be easily migrated. Yes, I had to pay upfront costs during development, but the migration will show that it was worth it. Now I can just spin up a test instance on a server, pull in the data from outside, and be up and running in an hour, or have my student interns play with it (I have a couple of "Joe wants this but has no time" projects).
But then there's the ancient DB developed by a bunch of cattleherders the company did throw a substantial amount of cash at... (I'm so glad they got rid of them), and that will be a right mess to migrate. I would like to take it behind the shed and put a couple of rounds into it and start afresh. Alas, no time for that...
It's Monday and already I'm in need of a drink... (might be because all of the important meetings are on this single day, which means I can get actual work done the other four days).
Perennial problem
Lost count of how many times I've flagged this kind of stuff to the higher-ups.
Response sequence is usually....
Q. How much?
A. X
Q. We can't afford it, can we do it cheaper?
A. No
Q. We'll do it as part of (future) project X - est 18 months finish date from now
A. Are you sure?
3 years later, project X still no closer
Platform now too old to migrate easily
By this time, the engine has changed substantially, and you've found you're using many deprecated features