How to migrate the AAD Connect to a new Server

October 8, 2022 at 10:52 pm Leave a comment

For those who running AAD Connect to Synchronize their On-Premise AD , may come across a requirement to upgrade the OS on the AAD connect server. In this situation , the safest approach would be to install a new server with latest OS version and then migrate the AAD connect with the below mentioned steps safely without facing lengthy outages.

Prepare a new server with the Operating System.
Install the AAD Connect (Preferably the same version as the existing or the latest version available).
Now , Prior to proceed with the migration you need to ensure two things.

– Take a backup of existing configuration using the AAD Connect –> View or Export configuration
–>Click on Export Settings. This will create a json file in X:\Program Data\AADConnect. (Copy it to the new server)
– Secondly use the Azure AD Sync Configuration Documenter to collect the existing configuration in HTML format.(https://github.com/Microsoft/AADConnectConfigDocumenter/releases) . The Installation instruction can be found in https://github.com/Microsoft/AADConnectConfigDocumenter/wiki.

Thereafter , proceed with the installation of AADC on the new server , select the Customize option (instead of Express) –> Import Synchronization settings ,and import the configuration using the json filed copied in the above step and press Next.

In the last screen of the AADC Installation wizard , select the below options.
– Start the synchronization process when the configuration completes.
– Enable staging mode.

Now , you using the AADC configuration documenter capture the settings on the new AADC server. Then run the below command to compare both the configuration.(Refer the wiki for instructions) after copying both the files in the same location.

AzureADConnectSyncDocumenterCmd.exe “AADC-SERVER-OLD” “AADC-SERVER-NEW”

After reviewing the output and confirming the configuration are identical proceed with the final steps in the migration.

– Enable the staging mode on the Old AADC server.(by running the AADC – Tasks- Configure Staging mode).
– Disable the staging mode on the New AADC server.
– Perform a test and confirm the synchronization is working as expected.
– Uninstall the AADC from the old server and proceed with the decommission.

Entry filed under: Exchange and O365. Tags: aadc, azure, AzureADConnectSyncDocumenterCmd.exe, o365, on-premise ad, staging mode.

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