Support for System Center Semi-Annual Channel releases

  • Article

Note

The Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) for System Center has been discontinued. System Center 2019 will support upgrades from two prior SAC releases so customers running System Center 1801 or System Center 1807 will be able to upgrade to System Center 2019. Configuration Manager is not impacted by the 2019 release change and will continue current branch release cadence of three times per year as detailed in Support for Configuration Manager current branch versions.

The information in this article applies to the following System Center technologies:

  • Data Protection Manager
  • Operations Manager
  • Orchestrator
  • Service Manager
  • Virtual Machine Manager

For information on Configuration Manager, see its support article.

Microsoft releases updates for System Center Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) a couple times per year. Each Semi-Annual Channel version is in support for 18 months from its general availability (GA) release date. Technical support is provided for the entire period of support. Microsoft's support structure has two phases:

  • Security and Critical Updates servicing phase - When running the latest Semi-Annual Channel version of System Center, you receive both Security and Critical updates.
  • Security Updates (Only) servicing phase - After the release of a new Semi-Annual Channel version, older branch support reduces to Security updates only, for the remainder of that version's support lifecycle.

Note

The latest Semi-Annual Channel version is always in the Security and Critical Updates servicing phase. If you encounter a code defect that warrants a critical update, you must have the latest Semi-Annual Channel version installed to receive a fix. All other supported Semi-Annual Channel versions are only eligible to receive security updates. Microsoft recommends updating your deployment to the latest version before support for your current version expires.

Version history

The following table illustrates the version history and support dates for the SAC releases.

Version Availability Date Support End Date
1801 February 8, 2018 August 8, 2019. 18 months after release date.
1807 July 24, 2018 January 24, 2020. 18 months after release date.