Microsoft reminded administrators that Exchange Server 2013 reaches its Extended End of Support (EOS) date in 60 days on April 11, 2023.

Today’s announcement follows two other recalls issued in January And June when the company notified customers to upgrade or migrate their Exchange servers.

The first version of Exchange Server 2013 was released in January 2013 and reached its main end date four years ago, in April 2018.

Once the extended EOS date is reached, Microsoft will stop providing technical support and bug fixes for newly discovered issues that may impact the stability or usability of the servers.

“Exchange Server 2013 will continue to operate after this date, of course; however, due to the risks listed above, we strongly recommend that you migrate from Exchange Server 2013 as soon as possible,” the Exchange team said. said.

“If you haven’t started your migration from Exchange Server 2013 to Exchange Online or Exchange Server 2019, start now!”

Exchange Online or Server 2019 options

Redmond advises directors to upgrade on-premises Exchange 2013 servers to Exchange 2019 to continue to receive security updates for new security vulnerabilities.

Exchange 2013 servers can also be migrated to Miocrosoft’s hosted Exchange Online email and calendar solution, available as an Office 365 subscription or as a standalone service.

After mailboxes, public folders, and other data are migrated, administrators can remove on-premises Exchange servers and Active Directory.

“If your organization chooses to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft 365 but plans to continue using Azure AD Connect to manage user accounts in Active Directory, you should maintain at least one Microsoft Exchange server on-premises,” Microsoft said. . said.

“If you delete all Exchange servers, you won’t be able to make changes to Exchange recipients in Exchange Online because the source of authority is your on-premises Active Directory.”

Redmond provides Microsoft 365 migration options and methods on his documentary site and advice to global administrators to help decide the migration path in Exchange Online.

Microsoft recently urged customers to keep their on-premises Exchange servers up to date so they are always ready for emergency security updates.

Today, the company also released February 2023 Exchange Server security updatessaying, “although we are not aware of any active exploits in the wild, our recommendation is to install these updates immediately to protect your environment.”