End of support notice
Customers currently using the EMP Tool will be able to continue using the tool until April 30, 2025, when we will end support for the EMP Tool.
To help transition off of the EMP Tool, please contact your AWS Account Manager or email microsoft@amazon.com.
Why EMP?
AWS helps customers with migration of their legacy Windows Server applications to the latest, supported versions of Windows Server on AWS, without any code changes. Many organizations struggle with migrating their legacy applications due to tight dependencies on older, unsupported operating systems (OS), limited in-house expertise, and/or missing access to installation media or source code. Moreover, getting extended support for these applications does not resolve the inevitable end of support problem, it just delays the inevitable. To mitigate these challenges, AWS offers the End-of-Support Migration Program (EMP) for Windows Server.
EMP for Windows Server includes tooling to migrate your legacy applications from Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2012 to newer, supported versions on AWS, without any refactoring. The EMP tool decouples the applications from the underlying OS, enabling the migration of your critical applications to newer, supported versions of Windows Server on AWS. Customers can use the EMP tool freely as a self-service option or with the help of AWS Partners or AWS Professional Services. A user guide is also available for customers who want to use the tool themselves.
The EMP tool identifies the dependencies that your application has on the outdated OS, and creates a package that includes the resources necessary for the application to run on the newer version of Windows Server. The package includes all the application files, runtimes, components, and deployment tools, as well as an engine that redirects the API calls from your application to files within the package. This resolves the dependencies, and decouples the application from the underlying OS. You can now run the packaged application on future versions of Windows Server, which means you don’t have to worry about upgrading these applications when the next end of support event for Windows Server arrives. Once on AWS, you can continue to optimize the operations and costs for these applications and explore further modernizing Windows workloads.
Benefits
IHS Markit
IHS Markit is a leading Fortune 500 Information Services company based out of the UK.
As part of a broader migration, IHS Markit engaged with AWS to understand how to address their legacy Windows servers. At the time IHS Markit was struggling to replatform a legacy version of Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains ERP running on Windows 2003 to a more modern version of Windows Server. AWS recommended the End-of-Support Migration Program (EMP) to solve this problem. Using the EMP tool, an AWS partner, Cloudhouse, worked with the customer to package the application without changing the application source code or impacting end-user experience. After the packaging process was complete, the customer received an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with the Great Plains ERP running on a Windows 2019 server. With a fully functioning application deployed in AWS, IHS Markit also found additional benefits including, increased performance and restoration of export functionality with the ability to run a newer version of Microsoft Office.
V/Line
V/Line is an Australia-based public transport provider that has provided services to the Victoria region for over 30 years.
As part of an initiative to reduce their legacy Microsoft technical debt and increase the security posture of their end-of-support applications, V/Line engaged with AWS to migrate a legacy version of Microsoft Dynamics AX. The application ran on Windows Server 2003 and the customer wanted to replatform to a modern, supported Windows Server in the AWS Cloud. Using the End-of-Support Migration Program (EMP) tool, the entire application was packaged without changing the application source code or impacting the end-user experience. Following the EMP engagement, the packaged application was successfully deployed to a Windows Server 2019 platform in AWS, allowing V\Line to decommission their legacy server.
Featured customers
Additional resources
EMP for Windows server
Watch this video to learn understand how EMP can package and migrate your legacy application when the media is available.