Support from BigFix for Win2008 OS after 2020

Hello All,

Any idea if BigFix would help support Win2008 machines after the official end of support date from Microsoft which is January 14, 2020, for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2. We are planning to purchase the Extended Security Updates from Microsoft. How will BigFix handle these situations? WIll BigFix help us stay up-to-date with the patches after we get the extended security updates from Microsoft?

Thank you,
Jennifer

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Following…

We are in the same boat, and will also have SQL 2008 R2 ESU beginning here in a little over a month.

Extended support will get you access to the updates direct from Microsoft and you will need to roll your own fixlets (or pay Bigfix or someone else to write them for you).

If the extended support fixlets were generally available via Bigfix I doubt Microsoft would get many signatures for paid extended support…

That’s definitely understandable, but it seems like BigFix would write the content and require manually caching the content as released by MS.

That’s possibly one way around it, but was not how it was done when Server 2003 went into (paid) extended support - my client at the time was given access to the patches and I wrote the custom fixlets.

I’m not an authority on the legal and contractual elements (especially with three entities involved), but for Bigfix to write the fixlets implies that they have access to the patches and accompanying information to be able to develop the relevance.

BigFix has a services organization that publishes custom fixlets for out-of-support content, on a contract basis. If you are interested in options you can private message me and I can help you get in touch with the right people to get started. You’ll still need a Microsoft support contract as well to access the patch binaries.

Inviting @brolly33 to the conversation.

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As @trn notes above, the BigFix platform does allow you to write your own Fixlets.

As @cjwolford adroitly observed, the patch binaries will need to be manually cached on your BigFix server in order to “action” them.

As @JasonWalker mentions, the BigFix Services team will have an offering for Windows 2008 Fixlets to compliment the Microsoft Custom Support Agreement that provides the patch binaries and supporting documentation. We had similar offerings for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003 End of Life events. You will need to maintain the MS CSU in order to get the binaries, our Fixlet service only produces the Fixlets that apply the MS custom binaries.

We are planning a Windows 2008 version of this paid services program for those who will be interested.

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+1 for adroitly. thanks for the clarification.

Thank you all for giving me more insight to this!

The client may be dropped from future releases after the platform is out of service but existing platforms like 9.5 will maintain the support. You may have to use an older agent as the platform moves forward for example.

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