Servers - Management Guidelines and Standards

Summary

The following guidelines and standards detail the management of servers within the KU Information Technology environment, including when a server's operating system (OS) is considered end of life and must be upgraded to continue service.

For details on how to request an OS upgrade to your server, see article: Servers - Requesting a New Server, Monitoring, Upgrades, and Decommission, section "Upgrade Server Operating System Version."

Reference Items

  1. Microsoft SQL Server vendor documentation.

    • End of life and SQL server use and management details.

  2. RHEL server vendor documentation.

    • End of life and Red Hat Enterprise Linux server use and management details.

  3. Ubuntu server vendor documentation.

    • End of life and Ubuntu Linux server use and management details.

  4. Windows Server vendor documentation.

    • End of life and Windows Server use and management details.

Linux Servers

Linux servers are supported within the KU Information Technology environment by the IT Linux Enterprise Systems (ITLES) unit. Read below for a complete list of guidelines and standards for the management of these systems.

End of Life - Guidelines

  1. Once a server's operating system (OS) version is no longer supported, it is considered end of life, and that server must be retired and decommissioned from service.

    • See the "End of Life - Standards" section below for end-of-life dates.

  2. KU IT considers a Linux server's OS end of life 12 months before its manufacturer's official end of life date.

  • This advance date ensures that all servers are up to date and service uptime is maximized in advance of any support and security deadlines.

  1. IT Linux Enterprise Systems (ITLES) will create a project 12 months prior to a server's KU end-of-life date in order to communicate to server owners the need to create a new server and migrate to it within 12 months.

  2. If the server's owner wishes to continue service, a new replacement server will be created by ITLES.

  3. A server's owner must migrate applications and data from their previous server to their new server. 

    • ITLES can assist with the migration by request.

End of Life - Standards

  1. Each Linux operating system (OS) listed below is supported by KU IT until the date specified in the KU IT OS EOL Date column.

Linux Server OS

KU IT OS EOL Date

Manufacturer OS EOL Date

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

6/30/2023

6/30/2024

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

5/31/2028

5/31/2029

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

5/31/2031

5/31/2032

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

5/31/2034

5/31/2035

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

5/31/2029

5/31/2030

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

5/31/2031

5/31/2032

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

5/31/2033

5/31/2034

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

Being Released

April 2026 (dates to come)

Supported Operating Systems - Guidelines

  1. Regardless of ownership, Linux servers in the KU Information Technology environment must have a currently supported operating system (OS) version.

  2. The following Linux server OS's are supported by KU IT:

    1. Red Hat Linux (RHEL)

    2. Ubuntu

Windows Servers

Microsoft servers are supported within the KU Information Technology environment by the IT Microsoft Enterprise Systems (ITMES) unit. Read below for a complete list of guidelines and standards for the management of these systems.

End of Life - Guidelines

  1. Once a server's operating system (OS) version is no longer supported, it is considered end of life, and that server must be retired and decommissioned from service.

    • See the "End of Life - Standards" section below for end-of-life dates.

  2. KU IT considers a Windows server's OS end of life 12 months before its manufacturer's official end of life date.

    • This advance date ensures that all servers are up to date and service uptime is maximized in advance of any support and security deadlines.

  3. IT Microsoft Enterprise Systems (ITMES) will create a project 12 months prior to a server's KU end-of-life date in order to communicate to server owners the need to upgrade their existing server or create a new server and migrate to it within 12 months.

  4. If the server's owner wishes to continue service, an in-place OS upgrade of the server will be attempted by ITMES.

  5. If an in-place OS upgrade is not possible, new replacement server will be created by ITMES.

    • Some items, such as SQL services, etc. may require a new server to be created.

  6. If a new server must be created, that server's owner must migrate applications and data from their previous server to their new server. 

    • ITMES can assist with the migration by request.

End of Life - Standards

  1. Each Microsoft operating system (OS) listed below is supported by KU IT until the date specified in the KU IT OS EOL Date column.

Microsoft Server OS

KU IT OS EOL Date

Manufacturer OS EOL Date

SQL Server 2016

7/14/2025

7/14/2026

SQL Server 2017

10/12/2028

10/12/2027

SQL Server 2019

1/8/2029

1/8/2030

SQL Server 2022

1/11/2032

1/11/2033

SQL Server 2025

1/6/2035

1/6/2036

Windows Server 2016 (version 1607)

1/12/2026

1/12/2027

Windows Server 2019 (version 1809)

1/8/2028

1/9/2029

Windows Server 2022

10/14/2030

10/14/2031

Windows Server 2025

11/14/2033

11/14/2034

Supported Operating Systems - Guidelines

  1. Regardless of ownership, Microsoft servers in the KU Information Technology environment must have a currently supported operating system (OS) version.

  2. The following Microsoft server OS's are supported by KU IT:

    1. Microsoft SQL Server

    2. Windows Server

 

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