End of support for Bitbucket Server hosting on Windows
Previously we announced that as of February 2021, we'll no longer sell new licenses for our Server products and will stop new feature development in our Server product line, with migration to Bitbucket Data Center (self-hosted) or Bitbucket Cloud being the alternatives.
Bitbucket only ever supported hosting on Windows for Server licenses, not the Enterprise-focused Data Center license. The end of support for Server licenses means the end of support for hosting Bitbucket on Windows following a similar process. Here we describe exactly what this process looks like for hosting Bitbucket on Windows.
What was previously announced?
Previously we announced the changes to our Server product line, and by extension, what's happening for Windows support. Specifically:
End of sale for new licenses
As of February 2, 2021, we'll no longer sell new licenses for our Server products and will cease new feature development in our Server product line.
No new feature development
As of February 15, 2022, we'll only provide security bug fixes for critical vulnerabilities until the end of support.
End of support
As of February 15, 2024, your products will reach the end of support.
How is the Windows end of support being implemented?
Bitbucket Server 7.21 will be the final minor 7.x version to support hosting on Windows. Bugfix releases will be provided for critical vulnerabilities from the date of release through to the end of support date, February 15, 2024, in line with the Atlassian end of support for Server licenses announcement.
Bitbucket 8.0 and later won't support hosting on the Windows operating system. It'll only support hosting on the Linux operating system.
What does this mean for you?
If you're currently running Bitbucket Server on Windows we recommend planning either to:
Migrate from Windows to Linux. See the Migrating Bitbucket Server to another server for details. Your users will see improved performance and in the future, you can seamlessly upgrade to a Data Center license unlocking many additional features that help you to scale and manage your instance, meet compliance goals and improve developer workflow.
Migrate to Bitbucket Cloud. See the Bitbucket Server to Cloud migration guide for details.
You can also remain hosting on Windows, running Bitbucket Server 7.21 through to February 2024, and be assured that bugfix releases will be available for any critical security vulnerabilities.
Has Atlassian considered supporting hosting Bitbucket Data Center on Windows?
Microsoft Windows has always been an inferior platform for hosting Bitbucket Server when compared to Linux. As a result, there have always been a number of restrictions including no support for Data Center licenses or running licenses with user tiers greater than 500 users. Disk I/O and process forking performance is poor on Windows and this impacts Bitbucket’s performance. For those instances running on Windows, a superior user experience is available by hosting on Linux or by migrating to Bitbucket Cloud. Furthermore, Linux has always provided superior tooling to help our support engineers help you whether you need help understanding the load on your system or diagnosing and solving problems.
Additionally, only a tiny fraction of our customer base is running Bitbucket on Windows, however, the development and maintenance effort required to support Windows is significant. We would prefer to channel this effort towards increasing the velocity of improvements we're working on that benefit all customers, including new feature development, improved performance, and greater scalability.
Taking all of this into account, we've decided to progress the Windows end of support alongside the Server license end of support.
Does this impact users on Windows clients?
No, this only affects the choice of server operating system, not client operating system. Bitbucket Data Center and Cloud both support clients running on Windows.