Extended Security Updates
Extended Security Updates can provide additional time for legacy SQL Server environments, but they do not remove the underlying lifecycle problem. These articles examine where ESU fits into broader upgrade and migration decisions.
SQL Server 2016 End of Support: Upgrade, Migration, Azure or ESU is the wrong first question
In many SQL Server environments, the SQL Server 2016 end-of-support discussion starts at the wrong level. The first conversation is often already about upgrade, migration, Azure, or Extended Security Updates, although there is no reliable inventory of the instance, the applications around it, SQL Agent jobs, reporting dependencies, vendor boundaries, ...
