Option D: 4.x Upgrade in Place on Existing Tier 1 or 2 Physical Appliance with WS 2003
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 was delivered with the 4.x Appliance. Your current KwikTag hardware is insufficient for the requirements of Windows Server 2008 R2, however, although KwikTag T3 is based on Windows Server 2008 R2, it also supports WS 2003, and will continue to do so as long as Microsoft supports WS 2003 (end of life for the OEM version is in 2015). If you choose to upgrade in place on existing hardware, your KwikTag system will remain on Windows Server 2003 until you are ready to upgrade operating systems. To give you sufficient time to move to the WS 2008 R2 (or newer version as they are available) operating system, ImageTag will release two point versions of T3 (after the initial January 2012 T3 release) with parallel development, testing and support of both WS 2003 and 2008 R2, but will then cease parallel development of enhancements on the WS 2003 platform. As point version releases are planned for twice per year, future enhancement releases will be for the WS 2008 R2 platform only beginning in mid-late 2013.
There are other important considerations for the upgrade in place scenario. Unless you have an existing test environment (i.e. a second KwikTag physical appliance), the upgrade process cannot be phased to allow a test and rollover to production at a later date. Also, unlike other options, an upgrade in place lacks a clean roll-back to the old version if upgrade issues are encountered.
For all of these reasons, we do not recommend this option and encourage you to consider moving to the virtual option or new hardware at this time.
For all upgrades, it is necessary to evaluate the technical environment, such as software and operating system versions, KwikTag features and integrations to third-party applications. Some circumstances may trigger additional services to complete the upgrade and will be scoped and quoted accordingly, such as integrations, multiple servers, and customizations. Please fill out the KwikTag T3 Upgrade Technical Questionnaire and consult with us for a specific quote.
