Microsoft: Exchange Server 2013 reaches end of support in April

Microsoft has reminded admins that Exchange Server 2013 is reaching its extended end-of-support (EOS) date in 60 days, on April 11, 2023.

Today's announcement follows two other reminders issued in January and June when the company warned customers to upgrade or migrate their Exchange servers.

The first version of Exchange Server 2013 was released in January 2013, and it reached its mainstream end date four years ago, in April 2018.

Once the extended EOS date is reached, Microsoft will stop providing technical support and bug fixes for newly discovered issues that could impact the servers' stability or usability.

"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," the Exchange Team said.

"If you haven't started your migration from Exchange Server 2013 to Exchange Online or Exchange Server 2019, get going now!"

Exchange Online or Server 2019 options

Redmond advises admins to upgrade on-premises Exchange 2013 servers to Exchange 2019 to keep receiving security updates for new security flaws.

Exchange 2013 servers can also be migrated to Microsoft's hosted Exchange Online email and calendaring solution, available as an Office 365 subscription or as a stand-alone service.

Once mailboxes, public folders, and other data are migrated, admins can remove on-premises Exchange servers and Active Directory.

"If your organization chooses to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft 365 but plans to keep using Azure AD Connect to manage user accounts in Active Directory, you need to keep at least one Microsoft Exchange server on-premises," Microsoft says.

"If you remove all Exchange servers, you won't be able to make changes to Exchange recipients in Exchange Online because the source of authority is your on-premises Active Directory."

Redmond provides Microsoft 365 migration options and methods on its documentation site and guidance for global administrators to help decide the migration path in Exchange Online.

Microsoft recently urged customers to keep their on-premises Exchange servers up-to-date to have them always ready for emergency security updates.

Today, the company also released the February 2023 Exchange Server security updates, saying, "although we are not aware of any active exploits in the wild, our recommendation is to immediately install these updates to protect your environment."