For organizations that are using synchronized identities for Officethe directory synchronization tool of choice these days is Azure AD Connect. To keep AAD Connect running you may eventually have the need to move it to another server. There are a variety of scenarios where this need arises, for example migrating to a new server provides the opportunity to safely upgrade to a newer underlying operating system without the risk of a lengthy outage. The new server has been configured with migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download IP address on the network, joined to the domain, updated from Windows Update, and is ready to go.
Although it is supported to migrate between AAD Connect instances that are not the exact same build, it is recommended to use the same build on both servers so that the same features and options are available on both instances. In my case, the latest available build is already running on the source server.
Ideally you will already have a documented configuration for your AAD Connect instance. Download their latest release and follow the instructions to generate the report. If you prefer something simpler to look at, open Azure Active Directory Connect on your existing server, and from the Tasks list select View current configuration.
You can also choose Customize synchronization options from the Tasks list to see things like the OU filtering that is configured. On the new server that will be hosting the AADConnect instance, download the latest build of the AADConnect installer and launch it to begin the installation process. At migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download final stage, check the box to enable staging mode. Open the report in a web browser and review it for any differences between the two configurations, which will be highlighted like the examples below.
While the two servers are in this state, the new server AAD01 will stay up to date with the latest changes in the on-premises Active Directory and Azure AD. However, it will not export any changes to the directories until staging mode is disabled.
This might mean a delay in the synchronization of a recent change that one of your administrators made e. Keep in mind though that most changes have a synchronization delay anyway, since the sync schedule runs every 30 minutes. To reduce the likelihood of the switch-over impacting someone or something important, you might prefer to schedule the change to occur during a period of low usage in your environment, such as an evening or weekend.
Click Nextand follow the wizard to authenticate and configure staging mode to be enabled. At the final step you can decide whether to keep synchronization enabled or not, depending on whether you think you might need to switch back to this server again e.
Follow the same wizard as migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download to disable staging mode on the new server, and make sure to start the synchronization process.
The uninstall process can be initiated from the Control Panel in Programs and Features. You can remove them if you no longer have a need for them e. After the uninstall has finished you can go ahead with any server decommission tasks you need to complete for your environment.
So am I understanding this right, that there is no way to export the configuration and import it into the new install. The best we can do is manually configure everything again, but then you can use the configuration documenter tool to compare your work to the existing server and try again if you missed something? You can copy this on the old server and use it to export and import configurations, then you can go and still compare the 2 configurations as explained migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download the article.
Can confirm this works as well! This is a new feature and a most welcome one. I missed a few settings when I had to do this manually, but it worked perfectly with this script. I have some confuse as I have a very old version using, the path upgrade to the latest AADC may not possible. Great article and just ran through this however I used the preview option where I could export migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download config off the old server to the new one.
It seemed to work except the new server AD connect does not see my. It is looking at it like its. We run a. The older servers connector to azure AD is the.
Should I start over and not import the config? Oh my I love your face! Thank you MD, I thought I was in for a world of hurt and this resolved it. Is it possible to build staging server with Passthrough Authentication and switchover to the new aad connect server with PTA? You can switch to PTA before or after you switch over to the new server. This are two distinct actions. Paul, I have a unique problem. Azure AD Connect was installed on a R2 server.
I recently did an in place upgrade on the R2 server. Trying to run a repair on the Azure AD Connect errors and all powershell commands fail as if the commands are unavailable. Do you have a suggestion on how to get the configuration files or repair the install? Do you have a suggestion? At this point I find no way to compare version configurations. How to migrate to a new Serverwith a new domain newdomain. Also i need to upgrade this server to a new windows version.
Is it possible to use a new, different account for the AD Connect Service on the new server? Thanks for posting this. Came in handy. I had performed an Azure AD Connect software upgrade on the old server before installing the software on the new server.
Does anyone know if I need to correct the Undefined value on the old server before swapping the staging roles? Or, does anyone know if simply swapping back the staging roles is possible in the event something goes sideways? Then We upgrade AD Connect version to 1. Finally did not resolve it. Paul, thanks for ALL the Great articles! My problem are that Migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download cant enable staging mode on the server since its orphaned and not recoverable.
Your article es great. I just have some doubts. The report tells me in the global settings as follow: all initial value are marked red for delettion GMT Microsoft. ServerConfigurationVersion 1. StagingMode FalseTrue Microsoft. I dont really know if I need to change anything here or what can happen if I make the switch just like this without changing anything.
Good walkthrough but i have run into a little of a pickle. Hi Paul…Couple of questions. Do you know what steps needs to be performed with respect to ADFS when building a new staging server. I had to go in there and delete that old server to stop getting those notifications. Otherwise, this all worked great for me! But the old AD Connect Production server had customized attribute settings. Moving the enterprise to a new Forest, new datacenters, and new AD structure.
Does your write hold true for my situation? Create new farms? HI, as the new Server is out for production and I am running my AAD Connect on Serveris it possible to do a inplace upgrade to new version? Appologize if this question migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download inappropriate…I am a beginner.
Used this process, ended up deleting all of our users, had to revert back to old server to restore all the users. Great article. Does anybody have any idea what these are and if they will negatively affect our directory synchronization? Actually, both are for Hello. Stumbled on it when reviewing the XML.
Hi Jasonyou may have already figured migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download out butjust fYI — We had those 2 missing rules tooThose are indeed used for WHfBthe msDSKeyCredentialLink is part of the new attributes when you upgrade your Schema to ver 85 — In our case we forgot to Refresh the schema in the AAD Connect Server we were migrating too it was installed before the schema was upgraded —.
Once we did that and configured both the device writeback and Hybrid Join options we saw those 2 rules created. So did this stop you from proceeding Jason? I worked through the process to install AD Connect on a new server and everything looks great. This article was amazing at making everything easy to understand. After a lot of hours I have the old install matching the new install as per the handy comparison tools. I am very new to Office and AD Connect so despite everything looking ready I have a fear that once I put the new AD Connect live and remove the old one that it could potentially sync the wrong thing and remove all the current mailboxes.
Migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download of all, is this even possible? If I was syncing a container of users on migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download old server and then accidentally sync a container with zero users on the new server would it then remove the mailboxes? Migrate windows server 2012 essentials to 2016 free download would be great if I could produce a list on the staging server of the mailboxes and groups that would be synchronized to compare that to what is currently there.
Yes, I had this happen with resources and shared mailboxes. You can restore them from Deleted users, however unless you fix the OU issue, it will keep deleting them. Both users are shown as Active Directory synchronized. AD-Connect uses the correct account to synchronize with O I am working on a migration project for a client whom already have AD Connect installed. I need to enable one of the features under custom install.
