JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 (EAP 6) End of Maintenance FAQ

Updated -

Environment

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) 6.x.

Issue

On June 30, 2019, Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.x Maintenance Support will end.

EAP 6 EoM Life Cycle
EAP 6.x entry on Middleware Life Cycle page

Support, security patches, and bug fixes for all JBoss EAP 6.x versions will no longer be generally available. Customers using any of these versions (up through and including any 6.4.x version) will need to take action to continue to be supported.

Resolution

If your organization is using Enterprise Application Platform 6.x or earlier versions, to avoid disruption you will need to:

  • Upgrade to a version that is supported, or
  • Purchase Extended Life Support (ELS) for up to 6 years extension of support, critical security patches, and critical bug fixes

Option 1: Upgrading to a version that is supported

Choose target version

To maximize the lifetime of your JBoss EAP investment, we recommend to consider moving to the latest major release. Here are some resources to help you understand new features and benefits:

Familiarize yourself with the differences between versions

To determine the differences between the versions, and the required or potential changes, you may find these resources helpful:

  • JBoss EAP 7 Migration Guide (upgrading from EAP 6 to 7)
  • Tools to assist in migration - see documentation
    • JBoss Migration Toolkit / Windup: supports code analysis of your EAP 4/5/6 applications for required changes to move to EAP 7
    • JBoss Server Migration Tool (migrate server configurations)

Consider modernizing

An upgrade to a newer version provides an opportunity to modernize your application and application infrastructure, e.g.

  • Modularizing monolithic or tightly coupled applications, exposing APIs, microservices
  • Considering Platform-as-a-Service, containerizing applications, enabling them for private cloud
  • Streamlining application delivery (Automate application lifecycle management, Continuous Integration and Delivery)
  • Building the foundation for a DevOps culture and collaboration

Red Hat Consulting or Red Hat certified partners can assist you in determining your modernization strategy.

Create an upgrade strategy and plan

Based on the analysis of your existing applications and any application infrastructure modernization, we recommend to create a transition plan. To bridge the time until all workloads get migrated to a supported version, Extended Life Support (ELS) can be purchased to keep those environments supported.

Option 2: Purchase Extended Life Support (ELS) to extend support, security patches, security fixes

Extended Life Support is a separate, add-on product subscription that can be purchased to allow for continued support. ELS is purchased only for the cores that are running the version that is beyond maintenance support. The ELS add-on is generally priced at 50% of the underlying product subscription. Contact your sales representative for details about cost and length of term.

Recommendations

  • Forward this information to whom it may concern in your organization
  • Review the JBoss Middleware Product Update and Support Policy
  • Verify which versions of JBoss EAP you are running (EAP 4 and 5, EAP 5 and 6)
  • Determine an action plan for any instances of EAP 6.x or prior
  • Reach out to your Red Hat or Red Hat partner representative if you are impacted - if you do not know who your representative is, please fill out our contact form
  • Consider involving Red Hat Consulting or Red Hat Middleware partner consulting services for guidance on upgrading and possibly modernizing your application infrastructure

FAQ:

What happens if we are running a version of JBoss EAP which is no longer in support maintenance phase without purchasing Extended Life Support?
→ you can continue to use the software, but will not receive support and security patches for that version

Is it mandatory to purchase the EAP Extended Life Support add-on?
→ no, but represents risk (see last question) → not recommended

Do we need to purchase Extended Life Support add-on for all JBoss EAP subscription cores?
→ only for the cores that are running on the old version

Are new versions of JBoss EAP (7.1 and 7.2) backwards compatible with JBoss EAP 6?
→ As far as Java EE standards are concerned, EAP is backwards compatible, however component changes that may require application code changes, and subsystem or server configuration changes.

Comments