Helpful tips to overcome end-of-life (EoL) challenges with your AWS infrastructure
Technology is central to the operations of modern organizations. It plays a part in helping every team within a business work more efficiently, effectively, and productively.
As a digital-first organization, aside from the core business structure, building a user-centered interface and establishing it on an IT solution that is scalable, flexible, and reliable are some things you would typically plan. While many companies implement the latest tools and technology in the initial phases, a good deal fails to prepare for what will happen when the technology matures and eventually becomes obsolete. This may be due to negligence or unawareness that many technologies adhere to a lifecycle that ceases with end-of-life.
What Is End-Of-Life?
End-of-life (EOL), also called the end-of-support or end-of-service compatibility, refers to a predetermined or pre-announced moment when administrators discontinue support for a technology version. Once this date closes in, the team, community, or technology provider will no longer actively support that particular version. Users will no longer receive updates or fixes for the affected technology version. Security updates, bug fixes, and technical support are all halted.
With the business’ IT infrastructure grounded on the AWS cloud, end-of-life can occur in two ways: from a component of your tech stack or AWS.
End-of-life of a Technology
Various frameworks and programming languages used in building web solutions have a predetermined date when the team behind it will discontinue support for a particular technology version—the end-of-life. Each version has a fixed lifetime, say two years, for a specific programming language or framework. During these two years, the team behind it actively maintains and releases periodical security patches for the version. After the initial two years, the team rolls out a new version but continues to support the previous version for another period until it reaches the EOL.
While the earlier version will usually continue to work after its end-of-life, it becomes more vulnerable to malicious threat actions.
End-of-Support From AWS
As a service provider that deals with technology and its underlying IT infrastructure, AWS could end support for any of them both.
AWS typically supports all technology versions beyond its official EOL. However, as active community/team contribution to the necessary dependencies drop, AWS retires support for the technology. This is to ensure that their services are up-to-date and able to provide essential security patches for business applications.
Therefore, the end-of-support refers to the discontinuation of support for a particular technology version when the cloud platform considers the version “too old” to run efficiently.
The intent behind end-of-life is to ensure a progressive improvement of technology. While old versions could have known vulnerabilities or dependability misfits, new versions tend to come with significant changes in features, advanced security capabilities, and speed to improve business productivity.
Why You Should Plan For End-of-Life
Like any other factor that affects performance and can cause instability in a business, end-of-life events are equally significant. With software as a central device for the organization’s operation, not preparing for an end-of-support event can compromise business applications and interrupt continuity.
Following the end-of-life, compatibility and stability issues suddenly arise, putting the business at dysfunctional risks. End-of-life events function as signals to determined hackers, who attempt to leverage the discontinuation of security support to exploit previously known and new vulnerabilities. With malware attacks becoming increasingly frequent, these vulnerabilities cannot be left unpatched.
Modern software environments depend on many interlocking pieces; if one cog breaks, the adverse effects could trickle down across the entire organization. Also, failing to move from a version past its EOL will make integrating new solutions in a tech stack challenging.
Including end-of-life in the strategic IT planning process will save the business from potential risks of security breaches and data theft that can have severe implications for regulatory compliance and, therefore, the business's success. It would be best if you planned for EOL events to prevent disruption to essential enterprise infrastructure.
Tips For an Effective End-of-Life Plan
The technology landscape is a fast-evolving one. This continuous change limits the lifecycle of various tech components and makes it critical for businesses to plan for end-of-life.
Here are some steps to follow to arrive at an efficient plan that will ensure that the organization is ready for an end-of-life or end-of-support for any of the tech stack while causing minimal disruption to the business.
Set a Benchmark for the Versions of Technology To Use
Setting a benchmark for the oldest version of a technology you can use in an organization can keep it steps ahead of any end-of-life saga. For example, you can choose not to use any version earlier than two versions behind the latest one. If a technology has a current version of v8.0, you will not use any version earlier than v6.0.
By setting benchmarks such as this, the technology stack will be based on a version with a relatively decent number of users and still receiving security updates.
Regular Code Maintenance
As a matter of sound principle, it is imperative to maintain the business codebase regularly. This will ensure that the business implements the latest, stable versions of the technology. Aside from the risk of end-of-life that legacy code stands, regular code maintenance helps to harness the efficiency of new technologies in delivering seamless solutions.
Monitor End-of-Life Status of All Your Technologies
Though AWS tends to support many tech components beyond its end-of-life, it will be good to be aware that the tech stack has reached its end-of-life before AWS announces the retirement of support for the language or framework.
Most technologies have lifecycles and designated EOL dates, which indicate when a version will become obsolete. This provides insights into the projected lifespan of that version, which should guide the upgrade strategy.
Regular monitoring of EOL status typically provides sufficient time to validate the new version and establish a seamless upgrade. Best practices call for organizations to become aware of the end-of-life dates of technologies, even before selecting them for their build.
Look Out for AWS Announcement of End-Of-Support
Typically, AWS announces the date it will discontinue support for a particular technology on its platform–when it considers the technology too old and inefficient. Be on the lookout for this announcement to make the necessary migration in time.
Initial Code Documentation
Document the codebase at the building time. Initial documentation will ensure that developers working on upgrading the project to a new supported version understand the codebase and don't break anything in the business logic. It will also be helpful to create a team within the organization with individual responsibilities to ensure that the tech stack doesn't go out of date and quickly upgrade it when it does.
Schedule Migration Into a Comprehensive Action Plan
After knowing when AWS will discontinue the tech stack, it's time to plan for migration. Create a time-bound plan and assign tasks to teams that will handle the process. This will ensure that there is enough time to iterate on testing the preparedness of the just-migrated tech for any potential loophole. Thereby, resulting in a stable form by the time AWS eventually stops the support.
Enroll in the AWS End-Of-Support Migration Program
AWS offers a support program for some components to help migrate the technology to a more recent version. This support is often free, and AWS assigns professionals who will help through the process. If it is available for the said tech component, enroll for it to take the hassle of migration off the organization’s neck.
Conclusion
Preparing for product/component end-of-life reduces cybersecurity vulnerabilities, facilitates seamless upgrade and configuration, mitigates the risk of downtime, and avoids bottleneck situations for business owners.
Not planning will put the business in a tight situation where they must rush things and may endanger the whole enterprise.
While staying on the front foot is excellent, you mustn't rush to adopt new versions of technologies. New software versions tend to have unexpected bugs and glitches that are only usually fixed after a few releases of security patches. Observe the technology community to make sure that the coast is clear before pressing on with an upgrade.
How AKOS Can Help?
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