Product Support Policy and Product Lifecycle Tables
Over the time of a long running Active Directory or Exchange migration project, Dell/Quest Software will usually publish various hotfixes to keep the most current versions of Quest Migration Manager up to date. The purpose of the hotfixes can be:
- supporting a new version, release, service pack of Windows server OS, Windows client OS, Exchange or Outlook
- fixing program code in the components of Migration Manager for Active Directory or Migration Manager for Exchange
By default, the 2 most recent releases of Migration Manager are part of the ongoing patch management process. [Statement from Quest Support Website: “Quest Software’s usual support policy is to provide support on both the current (n) and prior (n-1) versions of our products.” 2013-01-02].
For each Quest Software product, you can find a product lifecycle table, which provides information whether the release of your product is in “Full Support”, “Limited Support” or “Discontinued” mode.
For Migration Manager for Exchange check here:
https://support.quest.com/productinformation.aspx?pr=268440338&pv=4294952030&t=s_plc
For Migration Manager for Active Directory check here:
RECOMMENDATION: If you expect Dell/Quest support to provide custom code changes, enhancement requests and “on time” Hotfixes, make sure that your installed product release is covered by “Full Support” mode. For a long running migration Project, check in advance by using the product LifeCycle table and plan a maintenance window for upgrade activities.
How to get up to date information regarding new updates and hotfixes
Our most favorite way of getting a quick overview which hotfixes and upgrades are available is to check the hotfix summary page for Quest Migration Manager which is published here:
https://support.quest.com/SolutionDetail.aspx?id=SOL77417
This excellent summary provides both, most recent and historical information, which makes it easy to assess the patch level situation of the own Migration Manager infrastructure.
Another fancy way to get the latest information regarding hotfixes, product releases and KB articles is to read the RSS feed provided by Dell/Quest support. You can directly import the links below into your RSS reader:
For Migration Manager for Exchange use this xml file:
https://support.quest.com/RSS/ProductFeed.aspx?Product=Migration%20Manager%20for%20Exchange
For Migration Manager for Active Directory use this xml file:
https://support.quest.com/RSS/ProductFeed.aspx?Product=Migration%20Manager%20for%20AD
REMARK: Although you can see all the hotfix information on the public facing part of the Quest support site, you only will be able to access the software when you are having a running support contract.
No matter which method you will use to get the updated code, you still have to make the decision for yourself whether you are going to implement a specific upgrade or hotfix or not. We will provide some consideration regarding this question in Part 2 of this thread.
Cloudy Migration Life 