Automic Engine 24.4 vs Agent on Version 21

[Maria Joseph Vimalan]

Dear Experts,

I would like to ask for your opinion here.  We do have couple of Windows agents running on windows 2016 server.  As per the below link, windows 2016 is supported until end of January 2027.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-server-2016

However,  as per the compatibility matrix version 24.4 is supporting only from windows 2019 onwards.

What  would be the impact here if we run Agents on Version 21 connecting to Automic Engine Version 24 ? I understand we should run agents, AE on same version but if we have a compatibility issues , how should we proceed here ?

My expectation would be that the Automic should have made compatibility for Version 24 agents as well for Windows 2016 too until it is officially supported. 

Thanks and Regards

Vimalan

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[Kyle Harlow]

I think the main reason why 2016 was no longer supported was due to the new requirement that Windows needs to have Unicode UTF-8 enabled, which was introduced starting in Server 2019.

That said, I did do some (extremely limited) sandbox testing on my end and had no issues submitting jobs to a v24.4 agent on Server 2016 from a 24.4 engine on Server 2022/2025. Maybe not something I would run longer than needed from a support perspective, but looks like it can be done. 

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[Frederic BERGERON]

There was never any question of activating utf8 on the agents.

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[Maria Joseph Vimalan]

Thank you, Kyle for your feedback. UTF8 is applicable only for AE engine hosts but not for Agents whereby activating UTF8 might have impact on the other applications running on the agent host.

The problem now for us is that we are facing some issues with Version 24 agents running on Windows 2016 and If I raise a ticket to support, simple answer would be  "not supported".

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[Robert Hill]

Microsoft has announced it is ending support for Windows Server 2016 on Jan. 12, 2027. Servers running Windows Server 2016 will no longer be supported.

TM Menards Login

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[Shannon Hebert]

Hello Vimalan,

Our goal is to do our best to help our customers succeed with Automic Automation. In doing so, we also strive to certify on the latest releases of Microsoft Server so that their "mainstream" customers continue to have access to security patches, bug fixes, and more. As indicated in the link you shared: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-server-2016

The end of Mainstream Support is January 11th, 2022. Only the customers who've paid Microsoft for Extended Support have support until January 12th, 2027.

As many of our customers upgrade their OS before their end-of-support date, we do the same. The changes we make to our product are based on newer OS versions and may eventually become incompatible with the end-of-support releases of the OS due to the adjustments needed as vulnerabilities are fixed in the OS. This is why we don't include them as supported in our matrix.

I hope this helps.

Best,

-Shannon

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Shannon Hebert
Head of AOD Automation Support
Broadcom Software | Agile Operations Division
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[Maria Joseph Vimalan]

Hello Shannon,

Thank you for your feedback.   We are already in the process of upgrading our windows server to 2022 within another 6 – 8 months.

So, until then, to be on safer side, can we run Agent Version 21 on these servers connecting to Automic Engine Version 24 ?

If it is not possible / recommended, please let us know what could be the impact of running Agent V21 on AE24 ?

Best Regards

Vimalan

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