Migrating to the Eliminated State

Updated: August 25, 2010

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

The final phase of the SYSVOL replication migration is migrating the domain to the Eliminated state. After you migrate SYSVOL replication to the Eliminated state, all SYSVOL replication duties are performed by DFS Replication and you can no longer roll back migration to a previous state.

To migrate the domain to the Eliminated state, perform the following tasks.

  1. Prepare to migrate the domain to the Eliminated state

  2. Migrate the domain to the Eliminated state

Prepare to migrate the domain to the Eliminated state

Before you migrate the domain to the Eliminated state, you should perform all of the verification procedures in the Migrating to the Redirected State topic. Then use the following procedure to verify that the migration state is consistent and at the Redirected state on all domain controllers.

To prepare to migrate the domain to the Eliminated state

  1. Log on to a writeable domain controller (if you are not logged on already).

  2. At a command prompt, type dfsrmig /getmigrationstate to verify that all the domain controllers are at the Redirected state. The following output appears when all domain controllers are at the Redirected state.

    All Domain Controllers have migrated successfully to Global state (‘Redirected’). 
    Migration has reached a consistent state on all Domain Controllers. 
    Succeeded. 
    

Important

Do not migrate to the Eliminated state unless all the domain controllers have successfully reached a consistent state of Redirected. Also do not save the state of an individual domain controller unless that domain controller is in a stable migration state.

  1. Type repadmin /ReplSum to verify that Active Directory replication is working properly. The output should indicate that there are no errors for any of the domain controllers in the domain.

  2. Save the state of your domain controllers so that if problems arise with the migration, you can restore to the previous state. Use the Wbadmin start systemstatebackup command to back up the system state of the individual domain controllers. For information about the Wbadmin command, see (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=121860).

Migrate the domain to the Eliminated state

After you perform the previous procedure to prepare for the Redirected state, you are ready to migrate the domain to the Redirected state.

Note

After you migrate SYSVOL replication to the Eliminated state, you can no longer roll back migration to a previous state. You should make sure that everything is operating normally in the Redirected state and that you are ready to commit to using DFS Replication for replicating the contents of the SYSVOL folder.

To migrate the domain to the Eliminated state

  1. On a writeable domain controller (not a read-only domain controller), open a command prompt window and then type dfsrmig /setglobalstate 3 to set the global migration state to Eliminated.

Important

You cannot revert back to FRS replication after this stage. You should carry out this step only when you are fully committed to using DFS replication.

  1. Type dfsrmig /getglobalstate to verify that the global migration state is Eliminated. The following output appears if the global migration state is Eliminated.

    Current DFSR global state: ‘Eliminated’ 
    Succeeded.
    
  2. Type dfsrmig /getmigrationstate to confirm that all domain controllers have reached the Eliminated state. The following output should appear when all domain controllers reach the Eliminated state.

    All Domain Controllers have migrated successfully to Global state (‘Eliminated’). 
    Migration has reached a consistent state on all Domain Controllers. 
    Succeeded.
    

    This step can take some time. The time needed for all of the domain controllers to reach the prepared state depends on Active Directory latencies and the amount of data present in the SYSVOL shared folder.

  3. On each domain controller in the domain, open a command prompt window and type net share to verify that the SYSVOL shared folder is shared by each domain controller in the domain and that this shared folder maps to the SYSVOL_DFSR folder that DFS Replication is replicating. Text that is similar to the following should appear as part of the output of the command.

    Share name   Resource                        Remark
    
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    […]
    NETLOGON     C:\Windows\SYSVOL_DFSR\sysvol\corp.contoso.com\SCRIPTS
                                                 Logon server share
    SYSVOL       C:\Windows\SYSVOL_DFSR\sysvol   Logon server share
    

Tip

To use the net share command on a remote computer, download and use the Windows Sysinternals PsExec tool (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=161328).

  1. Use the DFS Management snap-in to create a Diagnostic Report for the SYSVOL_DFSR folder by performing the following steps:

Note

You must be a member of the local Administrators group on each server for which you want to prepare a diagnostic report.

1.  Open **DFS Management** from the **Administrative Tools** folder.  
      
2.  In the console tree, under the **Replication** node, click **Domain System Volume**.  
      
3.  Click the **Membership** tab, click **Membership Status**, and then for each domain controller in the domain, verify that the **Enabled** check box is selected for a **Local Path** of \[*drive*:\\\]*Windows\_folder*\\SYSVOL\_DFSR\\domain.  
      
4.  Right-click **Domain System Volume**, and then click **Create Diagnostic Report** to create a diagnostic report for the DFS Replication of the SYSVOL\_DFSR folder. Follow the instructions in the Diagnostic Report Wizard and view the report that the wizard produces to verify the health of the DFS Replication of the SYSVOL\_DFSR folder.  
      
    DFS Management in Windows Server 2008 provides the ability to run a propagation test and generate two types of diagnostic reports—a propagation report and a general health report. To verify that SYSVOL replication is working properly, perform the propagation test and examine both reports for problems.  
      

Note

The amount of time necessary to generate a diagnostic report varies based on a number of factors, including DFS Replication health, the number of replicated folders, available server resources (for example, CPU and memory), WAN availability (connectivity, bandwidth, and latency), and the chosen reporting options. Because of the potential delay in creating diagnostic reports, you should create diagnostic reports for no more than 50 servers at a time.

  1. On each domain controller in the domain, verify that the [drive:\]Windows_folder\SYSVOL folder was removed. If the folder was open at the command line or in Windows Explorer during the migration to the Eliminated state, the [drive:\]Windows_folder\SYSVOL folder and some of its subfolders can remain present after migration to the Eliminated state, but none of these folders contain any files in the Eliminated state.

  2. Stop and disable the FRS service on each domain controller in the domain unless you were using FRS for purposes other than SYSVOL replication. To do so, open a command prompt window and type the following commands, where <servername> is the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to the remote server:

    Sc *<servername>*stop ntfrs

    Sc *<servername>*config ntfrs start=disabled

Note

If you need additional confirmation that migration to the Eliminated state succeeded, follow the procedures in the Verifying the State of SYSVOL Migration topic.

Additional references

SYSVOL Replication Migration Guide: FRS to DFS Replication

Migrating to the Prepared State

Migrating to the Redirected State

SYSVOL Migration Series: Part 5–Migrating to the “ELIMINATED” State