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On April 11, 2023 (31 days from today), Exchange Server 2013 reaches End of Support! But you know that because we’ve already announced that here and here and here and here, and here (just kidding, that last one was actually for Exchange Server 2003! but all the other ones are real).
So, we thought we would instead look back and take time to thank Exchange Server 2013 for its decade of service.
Released to Manufacturing on January 9, 2013, Exchange Server 2013 took the messaging world by storm, as you can tell from our web site at the time.
Ok maybe not by storm, but it did usher in some pretty cool things, like the first version of the Exchange admin center, the web-based portal that replaced the Exchange Management Console and the Exchange Control Panel (except for the URL, which was weird, but we digress).
It also introduced an entirely new servicing model that moved from Service Packs and Update Rollups to Cumulative Updates.
And it was the first version to significantly adopt concepts and features from Exchange Online. For example, Exchange 2013 introduced the managed store, which were the newly rewritten Information Store processes, Microsoft.Exchange.Store.Service.exe and Microsoft.Exchange.Store.Worker.exe, and managed availability, which is a set of tightly integrated internal monitoring and recovery-oriented features that help prevent failures, proactively restore services, initiate server failovers automatically, or alert administrators to take action.
Exchange 2013 also introduced data loss prevention to help customers protect their sensitive data and inform their users of internal compliance policies, and it introduced In-Place Hold that allowed customers to meet legal hold requirements in a variety of new scenarios.
Of course, it wasn’t just new features that defined Exchange 2013. Exchange 2013 modernized the platform by moving from three kinds of data replication and two types of Exchange clusters to database availability groups, which are still in use today by both Exchange Server and Exchange Online.
But by far, the biggest change was to Outlook Web App, which was totally refreshed, as you can see from the screenshot below:
Wow, what an interface! Seriously, though, it was a more streamlined user interface that now also supported the use of touch, which greatly enhanced the mobile device experience with Exchange 2013 at the time.
It’s great to look back 10 years and feel nostalgic about all the wonderful things ushered in by Exchange 2013. Of course, for some of you this is not nostalgia, because you’re still using it. If you are still using Exchange Server 2013, then be aware that:
After April 11, 2023, Microsoft will no longer provide:
- Technical support for problems that may occur
- Bug fixes for issues that are discovered and that may impact the stability and usability of the server
- Security fixes for vulnerabilities that are discovered and that may make the server vulnerable to security breaches
- Time zone updates
Exchange Server 2013 will continue to run after this date, of course; however, due to the risks listed above, we strongly recommend that you migrate from Exchange Server 2013 as soon as possible. If you haven’t started your migration from Exchange Server 2013 to Exchange Online or Exchange Server 2019, get going now!
In order to stay supported you can:
If you are upgrading to Exchange Server 2019, learn about what you need in your environment and how to safely decommission Exchange Server 2013 when you are done.
If you’re migrating to Exchange Online, you might be eligible to use our Microsoft FastTrack service. FastTrack provides best practices, tools, and resources to make your migration to Exchange Online as seamless as possible. Best of all, you’ll have a support engineer walk you through from planning and design to migrating your last mailbox. For more information about FastTrack, see Microsoft FastTrack.
For more information on what this means and what your options are, see Exchange 2013 end of support roadmap.
Ok, now we told you here, too. So, please say goodbye to your Exchange 2013 servers (and any older servers you might have).
–The Exchange Team
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