DataRoad · IT Services and Consultancy
Managed Servers
Renew or migrate
Support for Windows Server 2016 will end on 12 January 2027.
And VMware has switched to a per-core subscription model. We’ll assess what you currently have, compare the three options based on their five-year costs, and advise you on which one we recommend for your situation.
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Staff: what to do with those we already have
There are two clocks ticking at the same time. The Support for Windows Server 2016 will end on 12 January 2027, in five months’ time. And Broadcom has done away with VMware’s perpetual licences: anyone renewing today will now have to pay a subscription fee per core. The infrastructure decision that many people have been putting off can no longer be postponed.
The key dates for the next budget
- 12 January 2027End of support for Windows Server 2016It will no longer receive security updates. Extended Security Updates are available via Azure Arc; these are a paid service and are provided for a limited time — they are intended to buy a few months’ time, not to resolve the issue. There are five months to go.
- Already in forceVMware subscription-onlyBroadcom stopped selling perpetual licences in December 2023. Licensing is now on a per-core basis, with a minimum of 16 cores per processor — even if the processor has only eight.
- 11 October 2027End of general support for vSphere 8Anyone currently using vSphere 8 must choose between renewing their subscription or migrating, and this decision must be made during 2027. It is worth taking your time over this decision, rather than leaving it until the last minute.
- January 2029End of support for Windows Server 2019It may seem a long way off, but a server purchased today has a lifespan of five to seven years. Anyone installing 2019 now is effectively buying two years’ worth of service life.
The increases in licence fees reported in the market following the switch to a subscription model range from three and four times the previous figure, according to Gartner figures quoted by the industry press. In a small infrastructure, this is what changes the answer to the question «is it worth keeping VMware?».
Three paths, and when each one makes sense
The industry tends to promote just one approach — usually the one that makes it the most money. Here are the three, with the downsides of each listed alongside the upsides.
Renew on the spot
It makes sense whenThere are applications that require low latency or handle large files on the local network. The workload is stable and predictable, and the current server has reached the end of its life.
What remains to be saidIt involves the ongoing costs of capital, space and energy, as well as a replacement in five years’ time. And it still needs someone to look after it every day.
Consolidate and switch hypervisors
It makes sense whenThe VMware bill is no longer proportional to the size of your infrastructure, and the workloads are standard: files, databases, management applications.
What remains to be saidMigration isn’t free. There are downtime windows to plan for, drivers to replace and backups to redo. Hyper-V is included with Windows Server; Proxmox is robust and licence-free, but requires someone who knows how to use it.
Move to the cloud
It makes sense whenThe team is spread out, growth is uneven, or the server is reaching the end of its life and they don’t want to buy new hardware again for another five years.
What remains to be saidIt replaces capital expenditure with a fixed monthly cost. And not everything migrates smoothly: legacy ERP systems, hardware-locked licences and very large data sets tend to work out more expensive in the cloud than on-premises.
In practice, most companies end up with a hybrid setup: email and office files in the cloud, whilst management software and large datasets remain on-premises. There’s nothing wrong with that — it’s almost always the most cost-effective option.
What DataRoad does in this area
We look at what you already have before suggesting you buy anything. Half of the assessments we carry out result in a recommendation that is cheaper than the client expected.
- Survey and dimensioningHow many servers, what workloads, what peak loads, what licences, and how old is each disk? Without this information, any proposal is just a guess — including ours.
- Virtualisation and consolidationHyper-V, VMware or Proxmox, whichever makes the most sense for your situation and for those operating the system. Several physical servers are converted into virtual machines on a well-sized host.
- Windows Server MigrationMigration from 2016 and 2012 R2 to a supported version, with a planned migration window, rollback prepared in advance, and application-by-application validation before decommissioning the old system.
- Backup and recovery testedRule 3-2-1: an immutable off-site copy and actual restoration tests with the date and result recorded. A backup that has never been restored is not a backup; it is merely a hope.
- Monitoring and maintenanceDisks, RAID, temperatures, free space, updates and certificates monitored 24/7, with an alert sent out before the first user calls to complain.
- Cloud and hybridAzure and Microsoft 365: when they’re worth it. And we’ll tell you when they’re not – which is more often than the industry tends to admit.
Frequently Asked Questions about servers
Is it worth virtualising if I only have one server?
Often, yes, but not for the usual reason. With a single physical server, there is nothing to consolidate — the benefit lies in recovery. A virtual machine can be restored on different hardware within hours; a system installed directly on the hardware can take days and depends on finding a compatible part. If the company cannot afford to be down for two days, virtualisation pays for itself at the first breakdown.
What happens if you continue to use Windows Server 2016 after January 2027?
The server continues to start up and run as normal. What is no longer provided are security patches, and that is where the problem lies: any vulnerability discovered from that date onwards remains unpatched forever. There are Extended Security Updates available via Azure Arc – which are paid for and time-limited – designed to buy a few months’ breathing space whilst planning the transition – not to delay the transition itself.
Should I switch from VMware to Hyper-V or Proxmox?
It depends on the scale and who is operating it. With two or three hosts and standard workloads, Hyper-V does the job just as well and is included in the Windows Server licence you are probably already paying for. Proxmox is robust and has no licence costs, but it requires someone who knows how to use it — if nobody in the company or at the supplier knows how, the savings on the licence become a risk. And keeping VMware still makes sense in larger environments or those with specific dependencies.
The cloud or an in-house server?
The right question isn’t which of the two, but which types of data. Email and office files have long been better off in the cloud. An older ERP system with hardware-locked licences, or project folders containing dozens of terabytes, are usually cheaper and considerably faster when hosted on-premises. Almost everyone ends up with a hybrid setup.
How long does a server migration take?
The survey takes a week. Preparation and testing take between two and four weeks, depending on the number of applications. The cut-off window usually fits within a weekend. What throws deadlines off track isn’t the technology — it’s realising halfway through that an old application has no installer, no licence to hand, and no one to support it.
What if the server breaks down during the night?
With monitoring in place, the warning usually comes sooner: hard drives and RAID controllers typically give days’ notice in most cases. When a failure occurs without warning, it is the backup that determines the downtime — if the machines are virtual and the backups have been tested, they can be restored on different hardware on the same day. Without this, you have to wait for the replacement part.
The end-of-support dates are provided by Microsoft and Broadcom and are subject to change. Always check each manufacturer’s official product lifecycle before deciding on an investment.
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