Supported SYSVOL Migration Scenarios

Updated: April 15, 2009

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

The SYSVOL migration process is designed to be robust enough to allow you to perform the migration without taking the domain offline, and can accommodate the following scenarios:

  • Domain controllers going offline or online. Failure of individual domain controllers does not block the migration, and regular operations continue on all domain controllers during the migration. You can backup or restore domain controllers, as well as add or remove AD DS from domain controllers during the migration.

Important

If you promote a new read-only domain controller during the migration before the domain is in the Eliminated state, then you must manually create the AD DS objects for DFS Replication as discussed in the “Migration stalls at the Preparing state on a RODC, or you promote a new RODC” section of Troubleshooting Migration Issues.

  • Rolling back the migration procedure at any point until the last step (when FRS is eliminated).

  • High Active Directory replication latency. (DFS Replication handles instances in which some members may not know that the migration has been initiated because the domain controllers that they consult have not received the migration notification yet.)

  • Branch offices with multiple domain controllers at one or more hub sites with high-bandwidth connections and slow periodic connections (less than 56 Kbps). The migration procedure does not assume that all of the servers that are participating in the replication will be simultaneously reachable during the migration.

To accommodate these scenarios, the migration process provides you with the ability to monitor and control the process, including verifying the correct operation before changes are committed.

This document does not cover the following migration procedures:

  • Reversing the migration after it is complete. You cannot use FRS for SYSVOL replication after the final stage of the migration process.

  • Migration from operating systems other than Windows Server 2008. Migration is possible only when all of the domain controllers run Windows Server 2008 and when the domain functional level is set to Windows Server 2008. For domain controllers that run earlier versions of the Windows operating system, upgrade the domain controllers to run Windows Server 2008 before you use the procedures in this document to migrate SYSVOL replication.