Atlassian announced last year that its Server products will be sailing off into the sunset in 2024 but the first big date is upon us... February 2, 2021. On this date, the following will happen:
- End of NEW Server licenses
- Updates to Server prices on renews and upgrades
What this means is that you will no longer be able to purchase new licenses for Server-based Atlassian products. You may experience a price increase on your Server-based products, Atlassian has outlined them in their Future Server Pricing FAQ. For new instances of the Atlassian stack on or after Feb 2, 2021, you will need to implement either the cloud or Server versions. If you are currently running Server, you have time, however, you need to start thinking about what your long term plans are for your Atlassian technology stack.
So what do you need to do now?
The answer is simple, start to plan for the future. Most of you will not need to take any immediate action as Server is not "going away" and business will proceed as usual. But over the past seven years, I've seen a lot of Atlassian instances and some of you have some work do because what you've done will make it hard to go to Datacenter or Cloud. "Why will it be difficult?" you may ask...well some instances would be a good candidate for "Hoarders, Atlassian edition". Some of you have not seen an app you didn't like while others want to keep every issue and page ever created. Sprinkle in bad practices and untrained administrators, you've got a mess that needs to be untangled.
Three years will go by quickly. Many of you work for companies that take a long time to make decisions and then want miracles to happen in the 11th hour. My recommendation is you start planning now to figure out what is the best solution for you. With that being said, you should start by looking at the following areas:
Apps: Not all apps are created equal. Many were built with Server in mind and some do not have an equivalent in Cloud or Datacenter. You should start evaluating what this will mean for your user community if the app goes away or the functionality changes.
Data: Moving a ton of data is never easy, especially if you're moving from Server to Cloud (which most will). Data comes in the form of issues and pages, as well as configurations. You should be questioning if you need to bring it all over. You should also evaluate if you want to bring over all the crud that's associated with the data (poor configuration setups like custom fields and statuses).
Customizations: Outside of apps, many have customized templates and files to control UI behaviors. These are usually not able to be replicated in Cloud or will break the multi-node Datacenter infrastructure.
Every instance is different from the rest and while those are generally the first places to start on your journey. Plus you must factor in the cost of operation with the security stance of your company. There is a lot to think through and this is why you must not wait until 2024 to start down this journey.
Here are the remaining dates that you should be aware of:
- Feb 15, 2022: End of Server upgrades and downgrades
- Feb 15, 2023: End of new App sales for existing Server licenses
- Feb 15, 2024: End of Server support
Need help or don't have time to think about this? Praecipio can help guide you through this transition by helping you plan and perform the migration when the time is right for you. Our consultants can evaluate your current set-up and provide a path forward customized to your unique situation.
