We are considering upgrading from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2019, but I just noticed on this website that the support end date for 2019 is 1/7/2025. If we do this upgrade, we would basically only have "support" for 2023-2024. This seems pretty short, so I wanted to ask what "support" means in the context of SQL Server.

CodePudding user response：

Microsoft's own documentation on end of life support explains how it works very clearly:

Each version of SQL Server is backed by a minimum of 10 years support, which includes five years in mainstream support, and five years in extended support:

• Mainstream support includes functional, performance, scalability and security updates.
• Extended support includes only security updates.

End of support (also sometimes known as end of life) indicates that a product has reached the end of its lifecycle, and servicing and support is no longer available for the product. For more information about the Microsoft Lifecycle, see Microsoft Lifecycle Policy.

Tim's comments: So if you use SQL Server 2019, you should be entitled to 5 years of full support, until 2024, followed by 5 years of security updates and patches, until 2029.