Payara Platform Enterprise 4 Lifetime Support 2025

Payara Platform 4 is reaching its End of Life, and the end of Extended Support is scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. 

However, we understand there are critical business reasons for which some of our customers cannot immediately transition some workloads to newer versions of the platform. To meet your legitimate business requirements, we are introducing the Lifetime Support model. This new offer replaces the Extended Support offering for this version and is designed to give you confidence that your business-critical applications will have enterprise level support to remain stable and secure during this transition period. 

This is your advance notice so that you can begin making plans to secure support for your existing infrastructure or to upgrade to Payara Platform 5 or 6. 

How Lifetime Support Works for Payara Platform 4 

If you want to remain on Payara Platform 4, you will need to buy a subscription to Lifetime Support. This means we can continue to provide you with support for existing and future tickets. 

In addition: 

• There will be an additional fee charged on top of your subscription for this new Lifetime Support model (for both existing Payara Platform 4 customers and new Payara Platform 4 customers with no previous enterprise subscription). 
• Your Lifetime Support subscription will be documented on your organizational Zendesk profile  
• If you purchase a Lifetime Support subscription, your existing Nexus account will be assigned a new role that provides you with access to the Payara Platform Enterprise binaries for the major version entering Lifetime Support (4). 
• In terms of releases, Payara Platform 4 will continue to release only security fixes (and bug fixes as determined by Platform Development). 
• No further hotfixes, backported fixes for older minor versions, or new features will be released for this version. 
• You will need to renew your Lifetime Support subscription annually. 
• This arrangement is only possible as long as the related Java 8 version is also supported (that is until December 2030). This is something that is outside of our control. Once the corresponding Java version reaches its End of Life, Lifetime Support would end automatically. 

Talk to your Customer Success Manager or sales@payara.fish at Payara for further information. 

JDK Support 

Once the corresponding JDK 8 version reaches its End of Life, you will receive support if you upgrade to the next supported major JDK version 

Remember that the scope of Azul Platform Core Support is changing: 

• Azul Platform Core binaries that correspond to updates to the major JDK version are no longer being released 
• Tickets asking for support on that version will be resolved after we explain that the corresponding major JDK version is no longer supported 

For further information, see the Azul Product Roadmap. 

What This Means For You 

Depending on where you’re starting, we have various pieces of information you’ll need so that you know what this means for you. 

Which Version of Payara Platform Should I Move To? 

This table lists and explains the ideal and alternative options depending on your status. 

For further information related to your circumstances, click to jump to the relevant information: 

• I’m on Payara Platform Enterprise 4 (includes Payara Server Enterprise 4 or Payara Micro Enterprise 4) 
• I’m on Eclipse GlassFish 4 
• I’m on Payara Server Community 4 

If You’re on Payara Platform Enterprise 4 

We know some of you will be unable to migrate all of your business-critical applications and infrastructure by this time. 

This can be for various reasons: 

• A complex application infrastructure 
• A small or inexperienced development team for whom migrating, reintegrating, and reconfiguring all these moving parts to new or upgraded versions this would be a major undertaking 
• The financial resources needed to support these efforts, in addition to any associated new or upgraded licensing and reconfiguration costs 

As a result, we understand that staying with Payara Server 4 is attractive if your infrastructure includes: 

• Legacy systems that are already heavily integrated with Payara Platform 4 
• Highly customized Payara Platform 4 workloads 
• Mission critical systems with very limited downtime tolerance 

At this point, you have two options: 

• Stay with Payara Platform Enterprise 4 and upgrade later 
• Upgrade to Payara Platform 5 or 6 

How to Stay with Payara Platform 4 and Upgrade Later 

Check our Payara Platform Product Lifecycle for a full list of Software Lifecycle Phases if you choose to stay with Payara Platform Enterprise 4 for now. (For example, Java 8 has been extended to 2030, last updated in May 2024.) 

How to Upgrade to Payara Platform 5 or 6 

For peace of mind, our Services team is available to guide you through upgrading to Payara Platform 5, migrating from another solution and all the necessary reconfigurations. We want to reassure you that we will support your work in maintaining the robustness and security of your application infrastructure as you plan migrations or upgrades. 

If You’re on Eclipse GlassFish 4 

If you are a GlassFish user, we recommend you upgrade to Payara Platform 6 (if not, 5). This will mean that you will get access to the latest new features (see Features Catalog). 

But, you may also be interested to know that: 

• GlassFish is no longer a commercial runtime. Therefore, it is unmaintained and has had no updates for over 3 years. This makes it almost impossible for you to mitigate security risks – unless you invest massively in dedicated security analysts. 
• • If you’re in the healthcare industry, for example, you’ll need to stay compliant with HIPAA legislation. 
• • Or, if you are running finance or banking applications, you’ll need to stay compliant with GDPR and other data protection legislation. 
• GlassFish does not offer Automation Assistance for server configuration. Payara Platform has dedicated Migration and Project support for your DevOps team, GlassFish to Payara Server Migration guides, and a migration and configuration Payara Accelerator service.  
• Since GlassFish requires configuration with a JSM server, we know this can be frustrating. If you want to monitor critical server events, such as when 90% of memory is being user, or the CPI is being hogged by threads, you may be keen to learn about: 
• • Payara Server Enterprise’s Health Check, Notification Server, and Request Tracking monitoring and alert tools 
• • Payara Server Enterprise’s Payara Insight monitoring console that enables you to see real-time graphics with daily metrics, including app metrics 
• • On the web app, you can configure further with extra pages and graphs 
• • elerator service. 
• GlassFish does not support Docker images (beyond 4.1). This causes problems if you want to create and maintain Docker images to launch and deploy your apps in a cloud environment. Payara Platform offers support for Docker images with each release, available from our Docker hub for both Full Profile and Web Profile and Web Profile Jakarta EE. 

How to Migrate to Payara Platform 4, 5 or 6 

If you want to migrate to Payara Platform 4, 5 or 6, see our GlassFish to Payara Server Enterprise Migration. 

If You’re on Payara Server Community 4 

For those who are ready, we strongly recommend that you opt instead for the next major version, Payara Platform 5. You can get support from our Payara Accelerator service for adoption, migration, and upgrades. 

How to Upgrade to Payara Server Enterprise 4, 5 or 6 

We want to reassure you that we will support your work in maintaining the robustness and security of your application infrastructure as you plan migrations or upgrades. 

For peace of mind, our Services team is available to guide you through upgrading to Payara Platform 5 or 6, migrating from another solution, and all the necessary reconfigurations. 

You can start by consulting our Upgrade Advisor Tool. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Here are a few questions you may have. 

When is End of Life for Payara Platform 4? 

We do not yet have an exact date for the End of Life for Payara Platform 4. Payara Services will review this annually. 

But it is important to note that this arrangement is only possible as long as the related Java 8 version is also supported (until December 2030). This is something that is outside of our control. Once the corresponding Java version reaches its End of Life, Lifetime Support would end automatically. 

When End of Life happens, you must move to the next supported major version of Payara Platform 4 and the corresponding JDK version to continue to receive support. 

How Much Does Lifetime Support for Payara Platform 4 Cost? 

You will pay 25% on top of the normal subscription. Once your Payara subscription is increased, the fee for Lifetime Support would also increase. 

Here is a worked example: 

• Let’s say your current Payara Platform 4 subscription costs EUR 10,000/year 
• Your additional fee for getting access to Lifetime Support for Payara Platform 4 would be EUR 2,500/year 
• This would make the total EUR 12,500/year fee 

You will need to renew your Lifetime Support subscription annually. 

Overall, you would need to commit fewer financial resources if you adopted or migrated to the next major version, Payara Platform 5. 

Talk to your Account Manager or sales@payara.fish at Payara for further information. 

Resources 

• Find out more about Payara Server Enterprise and Payara Micro Enterprise 
• Consult our EcoSystem Catalog for a full list of Build Tools, Cloud Connectors, Cloud Providers, Clustering Tools, Container Technology, Distributed Tracing, Jakarta EE Resource Adapters, Monitoring tools, Security Protocols, and Testing Frameworks to ensure when you’re migrating that the Payara Platform will fit into your existing infrastructure 
• View our Migration Guide to find out more about moving from another solution to Payara Server Enterprise