Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 – End of Life Update

Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 comes up for end of life status later this year. We look at the entire lifecycle of Microsoft Exchange Server 2019.

In this document we look at different CU versions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2019. And, we look at the recommended paths for upgrade of Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 before the server becomes end of life.

When does Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 become end of life?

Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 becomes end of life on 14 October 2025. This means that security updates for Exchange Server 2019 will not be published after 14 October 2025. The affected editions of Exchange Server 2019 include:

• Exchange Server 2019 Standard Edition
• Exchange Server 2019 Enterprise Edition

Without security updates, Exchange Server 2019 installations are prone to be exploited by various threat actors. And, this could snowball into major headaches for system administrators.

For your reference, we would like to state that that-

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2019’s official support initiated on 22 October 2018
• The mainstream support for Exchange Server 2019 ended on 9 January 2024.

Since January 2024, Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 is in ‘Extended Support’. So, the extended support for Exchange Server 2019 will end on 14 October 2025.

There is no way you can run Exchange Server 2019 without security updates after October 2025. Planning an upgrade or migration is, therefore, critically important.

What are the options for Exchange Server 2019 after October 2025?

There are a couple of available upgrade paths for Exchange Server 2019 before October 2025.

1. Upgrade to Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE)
2. Move to Exchange offered under the Office 365 subscription.

Should you choose to get Office 365 subscription for Exchange online, you could choose any suggested migration strategy from Exchange Server 2019 to Office 365 Exchange services.

How to upgrade to Exchange Server Subscription Edition?

Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 can be upgraded to Exchange SE before October 2025. This entails licensing commitments.

There are important points that you must be aware of while planning an upgrade of Exchange Server 2019 to the Exchange Subscription Edition.

• Exchange Server 2019 can be upgraded to Exchange Server Subscription Edition from Exchange Server 2019 CU 14 or CU 15.
• If you are running any other CU (Cumulative Update) version than CU 14 or CU 15, you would need to bring Exchange Server 2019 to CU 14 or CU 15 before upgrading to Exchange Server SE.
• You need to have an active Software assurance contract with Microsoft.
• The move to Exchange Server SE will require server and client licenses to be bought

How does the upgrade from Exchange Server 2019 to Exchange Server SE work?

Once you have gotten the new licenses for the Exchange Server Subscription Edition, you will do one of the following:

• From Exchange Server 2019 CU 14 to Exchange Server SE RTM version
• From Exchange Server 2019 CU 15 to Exchange Server SE RTM version

Once Exchange 2019 has been upgraded to the Exchange Server SE or Subscription Edition RTM edition, the future upgrade path for Exchange Server SE is clear.

As and when Exchange Server SE Cumulative Update 1 or CU 1 becomes available, Exchange Server SE will be transitioned from Exchange Server SE RTM to Exchange Server SE CU1.

What versions of Exchange Server 2019 are impacted by the end of life status?

Potentially, you could be running any Cumulative Update of Exchange Server 2019.

Starting from Cumulative Update 1, we have the last Cumulative Update 15 for Exchange Server 2019. There have been 15 cumulative updates during the entire lifecycle of Microsoft Exchange Server 2019.

• CU 1 of Exchange Server 2019 was released in February 2019
• CU 15 of Exchange Server 2019 was released in the first half of 2025
• CU 14 of Exchange Server 2019 was released in H1 2024

If you are running anything besides Cumulative Update 14 or Cumulative Update 15 of Exchange Server 2019, you need to first upgrade to either CU 14 or CU 15 of Exchange Server 2019.

This is because Microsoft has provided upgrade path for Exchange Server 2019 to Exchange Server SE RTM from CU 14 or CU 15 of Exchange Server 2019.