Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, offer free or paid support options, or update online content such as KB articles for Exchange Server 2003. April 8 marks the end-of-life for Exchange 2003. This means you will be at increasing risk for security breaches as hackers will certainly continue to discover vulnerabilities. For some firms you risk falling outside of your compliance obligation. It is my recommendation that you consider upgrading your Exchange Server software to the latest version where support and security updates will be available for a number of years. The newest Exchange 2013 provides current IT support and security updates, plus there are also many new features in the latest editions of the software. If you are located in Orange County or Los Angeles County or Riverside County or San Bernardino County, our Alvaka Networks IT support staff is available to help you with your upgrades. For our global clients with hardware and software in other regions, we have support vehicles in place to help you with those IT upgrades and updates in those other areas.
Please note that online content may remain available as long as Exchange 2003 remains in the self-help online support phase, but I am not sure how long that will last. Microsoft writes, “Companies running Exchange 2003 after April 8, 2014 will be responsible for their own for support. More importantly, because Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, companies that choose to continue running Exchange 2003 accept the risk associated with that.” Alvaka Networks has considerable experience with Exchange 2003 and we will help in any way we can, but the days are numbered for this software.
Alvaka Networks is available to for IT consulting and support services to our clients and prospective clients in southern California and elsewhere. Our consultants can be dispatched from Irvine, Long Beach, Orange, Tustin, Chatsworth, Pasadena, Lake Forest, Murrieta and many other cities. We can help you create a migration plan and budget that is based upon our standard methodology, but customized to fit your needs. Whether you need Network Monitoring, Backup and disaster recovery systems, IT service and support, penetration tests and vulnerability assessments, Alvaka Networks is ready to serve you 24x7x365.
Need help or some advice, e-mail toli@alvaka.net or give me a call at 949 428-5000 extension 213.
Smoke testing is a term used to describe the testing process for servers after patches are applied. 
Estimating an average time for patching servers and PCs can be a bit tricky. It can vary from one month to the next, depending upon the number and complexity of the patches released by your software vendors. You must consider all versions of operating systems and have a complete inventory of all your application software to do this job correctly. Our experience has shown that manual patching of systems takes on average of about 1.5 hours each.
This is a basic cost calculator for you to compute your typical monthly cost for patching your servers, PCs, laptops, tablets and associated application software. It also forms the basis for you to begin calculating your Return on Investment for software patching, or for comparison with alternatives to the manual process of patching operating systems and application software—such as Patch Management as a Service, also known as Vulnerability Management as a Service.