SQL Server 2008 No Longer Supported

Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 (and 2008 R2) is now out of support. It was officially retired by Microsoft on July 9, 2019.

That means the database is no longer receiving any updates or security patches and is no longer guaranteed to be compatible with current and upcoming versions of Windows. Microsoft is urging users to migrate to another database platform.

We at Burli have also ended our support for SQL Server 2008; it’s simply not practical for us to support a database that Microsoft doesn’t.

While we have no reason to think your SQL Server 2008 will stop working immediately, in order to keep Burli running smoothly, we’ll eventually need to use modules and features that are simply not compatible with the 2008 version. It may take weeks or years, but it’s already happened with SQL Server 2005 and earlier which no longer connect reliably to Burli (or to Windows 8 or 10).

So… as of July 2019 all of our releases and patches assume at least SQL Server 2012 R2 SP4.

We recommend SQL Server 2017, 2016 or 2014 as replacements. They are all used with Burli worldwide.

SQL Server 2012 also works well with Burli, but we’d recommend using something newer if you have the choice. If you have a spare SQL Server 2012 R2 license and wish to make use of it, that’s fine; the database will be supported by Microsoft (presuming you’re on Service Pack 4) until mid-2022.

And while we’re talking about such things, it’s worth noting that Windows 7 and Server 2008 reach the end of their roads in January 2020.