End-of-Life for Desktops powered by AWS Workspaces (WS2016) on Tehama
In February 2021, Tehama introduced new Tehama Windows desktops (based on Windows Server 2019). These desktops led to significant new benefits for our customers, including:
- Faster desktop launch times
- The persistence of desktop state across sessions, as the desktop hibernates between sessions (for most desktop specifications), rather than shutting down
- Better desktop performance
- And a favourable pricing model that optimizes your costs based on a desktop’s actual usage
Tehama Windows desktops will allow Tehama to continue to improve the platform, including the ability to support new regions, support new capabilities and continuously optimize for an industry-leading end user experience.
Thus far, Tehama has continued to support our classic desktop offering, which runs on AWS Workspaces with the Windows Server 2016 OS. However, in January 2022, Windows Server 2016 is in “End of Support” by Microsoft. This means that no further updates will be provided by Microsoft other than security patches.
In order to allow us to focus our efforts on continuously improving the next-generation offerings of the platform and focus on modern, fully supported operating systems, Tehama will begin to transition desktops powered by Amazon Workspaces (WS2016) into end of life.
We are happy to assist you in your migration to Tehama Windows Desktops if you have not already started the process.
EOL Stages for Amazon Workspaces Within Tehama
Stage 1: Restricting Support for new Rooms and Use Cases/Workloads on Amazon Workspaces
Date: March 1st, 2022
Support will be reduced for creating desktops based on Amazon Workspaces (WS2016) for new use cases or new workloads:
- In new Rooms created after this date, it will no longer be possible to create desktops based on AWS Workspaces.
- In existing Rooms that do not have existing desktops based on AWS Workspaces, the ability to create desktops based on AWS Workspaces will be reduced in the coming weeks.
- It will no longer be possible to create new Custom Images, in new or existing rooms, for desktops based on AWS Workspaces.
Tehama Windows Desktops will be the only type of Windows Desktop available for creation in new Rooms. In all Rooms, we recommend beginning to create your images for Tehama Desktops when you have a need to roll out a new group of users.
Existing images, templates and desktops based on Amazon Workspaces will continue to be fully supported in existing Rooms at this time. New desktops can still be created in these rooms provided they are based on an existing image, and existing desktops can continue to be used as well.
Stage 2: End-of-Life for Desktops based on Amazon Workspaces (WS0216) on Tehama
Date: October 1st, 2022
Desktops based on Amazon Workspaces will no longer function and will be removed from the Tehama platform to allow us to focus our efforts on our new offerings.
We thank you for your continued support, and again are happy to work closely with you and help you plan as you migrate fully to Tehama Desktops.