System Center Endpoint Protection for Windows Server 2003

By: admin

Full Article: configmgrdogs blog

A quick reminder that Windows Server 2003 is coming to end of life and will be unsupported after July 14 2015.

While your Server 2003 OS will continue to run it is important to note that for people using System Center Endpoint Protection (SCEP) for antivirus – definition updates will no longer be provided.

From the Configuration Manager Team Blog: –

“On this same date, customers using System Center Endpoint Protection or Forefront Endpoint Protection on Windows Server 2003 will stop receiving updates to antimalware definitions and the engine for Windows Server 2003. “

You can detect operating systems with SCEP installed using Compliance Settings in Configuration Manager and reporting on the value of the following registry key.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\EndOfLifeState

A value of 2 means that the operating system is nearing end of life – while a value of 3 means the operating system is no longer supported by the SCEP client.

So what can you do – not a lot unfortunately except continue to migrate applications and services residing on legacy systems. As the team blog states: –

“We have found in our research that the effectiveness of antimalware solutions on out-of-support operating systems is limited. Given the fast pace of technology, it has become increasingly important that customers use modern software and hardware that is designed to help protect PCs and servers against today’s threat landscape.”

Details on how you can plan for migration and tools which can help can be found here