Changes to the supportability model for Azure AD Connect coming in effect Nov 1st

Back in January 2020, Microsoft announced that they are planning some changes to the supportability model for Azure AD Connect, effective November 1st, 2020. Since this date is now a week away, I thought it might be a good idea to remind folks about it.

Originally posted as a note over at the Azure AD Connect version history page, the announcement reads as follows:

Starting on November 1st, 2020, we will begin implementing a deprecation process whereby versions of Azure AD Connect that were released more than 18 months ago will be deprecated. At that time we will begin this process by deprecating all releases of Azure AD Connect with version 1.3.20.0 (which was released on 4/24/2019) and older, and we will proceed to evaluate the deprecation of older versions of Azure AD Connect every time a new version releases.

You need to make sure you are running a recent version of Azure AD Connect to receive an optimal support experience.

If you run a deprecated version of Azure AD Connect you may not have the latest security fixes, performance improvements, troubleshooting and diagnostic tools and service enhancements, and if you require support we may not be able to provide you with the level of service your organization needs.

If you have enabled Azure AD Connect for sync you will soon automatically begin receiving Health notifications that warn you about upcoming deprecations when you are running one of the older versions.

Please refer tothis articleto learn more about how to upgrade Azure AD Connect to the latest version.

For version history information on deprecated versions, seeAzure AD Connect version release history archive

This of course is nothing new, as Microsoft has similar policies in place for other pieces of software, and has been aggressively reducing the supportability windows over the past few years in an effort to reduce costs and improve product quality.

Now, although the term “deprecated” is used, nowhere in the message above is it mentioned whether older versions will actually stop syncing. What is clear is that they will no longer receive any fixes and updates, including the ability to automatically upgrade to a newer AAD Connect version. With respect to versions, anything lower than 1.3.20.0 will be out of support starting next week, so make sure you are running a supported build.

1 thought on “Changes to the supportability model for Azure AD Connect coming in effect Nov 1st

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.