SQL Server 2005 has now officially hit its end of life. This means that it will no longer receive security updates and new vulnerabilities that are discovered will go unfixed. Yet a recent survey commissioned by Microsoft showed that 46% of companies using SQL Server had at least one production machine running SQL Server 2005.
It goes on to say that “of those not currently using SQL Server 2005, 53% finished their migration between six months and a year ago, and 47% finished within the past six months.”
SQL Server 2008 has a three more years left, with July 9, 2019 being the end of the Extended Support period if you apply all of the service packs. However, far more companies are on SQL Server 2008 R2, which comes in with a 39% version usage rate.
Next up is second place SQL Server 2012. 44% of respondents are also using this version, which is supported through the middle of next year. If you pay for extended support, you can continue safely using it 2022.
Server 2014 is in fourth place with 32% is. These are a bit safer, with July of 2019 being only the end of mainstream support and extended support thru the middle of 2024.
Most Companies Are Moving to SQL Server 2014
Rather than incrementally migrating, 42% of companies who need to migrate are jumping directly to SQL Server 2014. A large number, 39%, are targeting SQL Server 2012. The bulk of the rest are looking at SQL Server 2008 R2 (which seems odd given its impending EOL).
Migration Resources
For a list of resources, check out Erik Darling’s article SQL Server 2005 End Of Support: Keep Calm And Do This Stuff.