Mastering Active

Directory Migrations
Written by
Derek Melber
MCSE, MVP, President
BrainCore.Net AZ, Inc.

WHITE PAPER
© 2011 Quest Software, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This document contains proprietary information protected by copyright. No part of this document may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
and recording for any purpose without the written permission of Quest Software, Inc. (―Quest‖).
The information in this document is provided in connection with Quest products. No license, express or
implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in
connection with the sale of Quest products. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN QUEST'S TERMS AND
CONDITIONS AS SPECIFIED IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THIS PRODUCT, QUEST
ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER AND DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR
STATUTORY WARRANTY RELATING TO ITS PRODUCTS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-
INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL QUEST BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT
LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF
INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS DOCUMENT, EVEN IF
QUEST HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Quest makes no
representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this
document and reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time
without notice. Quest does not make any commitment to update the information contained in this
document.
If you have any questions regarding your potential use of this material, contact:
Quest Software World Headquarters
LEGAL Dept
5 Polaris Way
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
www.quest.com
Email: legal@quest.com
Refer to our Web site for regional and international office information.

Trademarks
Quest, Quest Software, the Quest Software logo, AccessManager, ActiveRoles, Aelita, Akonix,
AppAssure, Benchmark Factory, Big Brother, BridgeAccess, BridgeAutoEscalate, BridgeSearch,
BridgeTrak, BusinessInsight, ChangeAuditor, ChangeManager, Defender, DeployDirector, Desktop
Authority, DirectoryAnalyzer, DirectoryTroubleshooter, DS Analyzer, DS Expert, Foglight, GPOADmin,
Help Desk Authority, Imceda, IntelliProfile, InTrust, Invirtus, iToken, I/Watch, JClass, Jint, JProbe,
LeccoTech, LiteSpeed, LiveReorg, LogADmin, MessageStats, Monosphere, MultSess, NBSpool,
NetBase, NetControl, Npulse, NetPro, PassGo, PerformaSure, Point,Click,Done!, PowerGUI, Quest
Central, Quest vToolkit, Quest vWorkSpace, ReportADmin, RestoreADmin, ScriptLogic, Security Lifecycle
Map, SelfServiceADmin, SharePlex, Sitraka, SmartAlarm, Spotlight, SQL Navigator, SQL Watch, SQLab,
Stat, StealthCollect, Storage Horizon, Tag and Follow, Toad, T.O.A.D., Toad World, vAutomator,
vControl, vConverter, vFoglight, vOptimizer, vRanger, Vintela, Virtual DBA, VizionCore, Vizioncore
vAutomation Suite, Vizioncore vBackup, Vizioncore vEssentials, Vizioncore vMigrator, Vizioncore
vReplicator, WebDefender, Webthority, Xaffire, and XRT are trademarks and registered trademarks of
Quest Software, Inc in the United States of America and other countries. Other trademarks and registered
trademarks used in this guide are property of their respective owners.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 1

Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 4

Assessing the Source Environment .............................................................................................................. 5

Managing the Migration................................................................................................................................. 6

Active Directory Migration Requirements .................................................................................................. 6

Re-permissioning of Resources ............................................................................................................. 6

SIDHistory Migration .............................................................................................................................. 6

Co-existence .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Reporting ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Cleanup .................................................................................................................................................. 6

Rollback ................................................................................................................................................. 7

Choosing the Right Tool ............................................................................................................................ 7

Active Directory Migration Scenarios ............................................................................................................ 8

Intra-forest Migration .............................................................................................................................. 8

Inter-forest Migration .............................................................................................................................. 8

Site Topology Migration ......................................................................................................................... 8

Non-trusted Domain Migration ............................................................................................................... 8

Advanced User and Group Object Property Migration .......................................................................... 9

Migrated Object Property Customization ............................................................................................... 9

Active Directory Delegation Migration .................................................................................................... 9

Resource Migration ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Resource Permissions ......................................................................................................................... 10

Service Accounts ................................................................................................................................. 10

Desktops .............................................................................................................................................. 10

Laptops ................................................................................................................................................ 10

Servers ................................................................................................................................................. 11

Cleanup ................................................................................................................................................ 11

Conclusion................................................................................................................................................... 12

About the Author ......................................................................................................................................... 13

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 2

Abstract
This white paper details the major challenges of Active Directory migrations and explains how choosing
the right migration tools can help speed your migration and help ensure its success.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 3

Introduction
An Active Directory migration can be complex and difficult. The goal for most organizations is to provide
seamless access to data and services for all users during and after the migration and minimize the impact
of the migration on the production environment.

To begin your migration, you need to understand your source environment at both the domain level and
the object level so you can make good decisions about your migration process and minimize the data you
have to migrate. Then you need to migrate your servers, resources, and permissions from source domain
to the target domain. This process usually takes weeks or months, during which you must keep the
source and target environments in sync. Some migration scenarios—such as migrating multiple domains
into a single domain, migrating complex site topology structures, or migrating domains that can’t have
trusts established—add even more complexity to the migration project.

This white paper details the major challenges of Active Directory migrations, including complex migration
scenarios, and explains how choosing the right migration tools can help speed your migration and help
ensure its success.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 4

Assessing the Source Environment
The first step in a migration is assessing the current environment to determine the scope of your project
and properly plan for resources required in the target environment. Most organizations will want to gather
the following information:

Accounts that have never logged on and inactive accounts – These accounts may not need to be
migrated.

Computer account status – Organizations often discover ―dead‖ computer accounts that do not
need to be migrated.
Duplicate users and groups – If you identify duplicate users between domains, you might want to
merge or rename some of these objects during the migration.

File shares by computer – Some shared file resources might require a permissions update as part
of the migration process.
Account policies, audit policies, and password policies – You should assess the level of
consistency between the source and target environments for each type of policy. Assessing
password policies for domains, for instance, is important because when user accounts with weak
passwords are migrated into a domain with a stronger password policy, those user accounts are
automatically disabled by the operating system and the ―must change password at next logon‖
flag is set.
Unfortunately, collecting this information and developing appropriate reports manually can be difficult and
is prone to error. Many organizations find they do not have the time to assess their source environment
properly, and they often face migration issues later that could have been avoided. Consider investing in a
third-party tool, such as Reporter from Quest Software, to automate the assessment process and help
ensure you have a complete and accurate picture of your source environment.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 5

Managing the Migration
Active Directory Migration Requirements
Most organizations have two important requirements for their Active Directory migration projects. The first
is to minimize disruption for users, both during and after the migration, and the second is to minimize the
impact to the production environment, also both during and after the migration. Although we all want the
migration process to take a day, most migrations take weeks or even months to complete. During this
time, users must be able to access the data and applications they need; servers must be available; and
domain membership and resource permissions must be correct. If any of these fail during the migration,
the ramifications can be staggering. Millions of dollars can be lost with a single resource or server failing
to migrate successfully.

Therefore, organizations need a management system that can track each migration step, ensure that
nothing is missed, and provide a way to recover back to the original environment if a serious issue arises.
The following aspects of migration require particular attention:

Re-permissioning of Resources
Re-permissioning of resources needs to be tracked, and verified during the migration process. Re-
permissioning must take into consideration the domain structure of all domains being migrated. Old user
and group accounts and new user and group accounts need to be rationalized.

SIDHistory Migration
SIDHistory for migrated users needs to be understood, managed, and tracked to ensure seamless access
to resources during and after the migration.

Co-existence
Most migrations are done in waves or phases; this is called a rolling migration. Ensuring that everything is
kept in sync during these phases is critical to keeping business operations up and running. Some of the
key synchronization efforts include:

Continuous synching of user passwords from the originating domain and the target domain

Continuous updating of group membership from the original domain to the target domain
Ensuring proper access to resources in both the original domain and the target domain

Reporting
Administrators need regular statistics and reports so they can always know the status of the migration.
Reports should indicate the percentage of the migration completed and detailed statistics on the number
of successful and failed migrations of users, groups, servers, resources, permissions, etc.

Cleanup
After migration, you need to update permissions and resources, including Active Directory,
SharePoint, Exchange, IIS, File and Print, SQL Server, cluster servers, Microsoft System Management
Center (SMS), and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 6

Rollback
A final key aspect of any migration is dealing with errors and failures. Rollback in case of error is complex
and confusing because so many aspects of the environment need to be considered. Attempting to
perform a rollback manually is just begging for something to go wrong.

Choosing the Right Tool

Managing a migration manually is usually not practical, and it introduces considerable risk of mistakes
and omissions. Investing in a migration management tool can save you time and money and reduce the
risk of a failed migration. Look for a tool that:

Enables you to control all migration processes from a single management console.
Automates the migration of servers and resources.

Provides up-to-the-minute statistics to ensure you always know the current status of the migration
project.
Ensures true coexistence between migrated and unmigrated users, so users cano continue
working totally unaware of the migration project. The tool should be able to synchronize all
changes made during the coexistence period in both directions (from source to target and from
target to source), including changes to passwords, group membership, and resource permissions.
Automatically updates permissions and resources after migration.
Detects errors during migration and provides automated rollback. The tool should be able to
pinpoint which users are causing the issues and roll back only those users.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 7

Active Directory Migration Scenarios
If your migration involves migrating only users, groups, and computers from one domain to another,
the process will not be that complicated. However, most Active Directory migrations are complex, and
having the right tools to manage the migration is critical. If your migration involves scenarios like the
following, consider investing in a quality migration management tool such as Quest Migration Manager
for Active Directory.

Intra-forest Migration
An intra-forest migration is typically done to reduce the number of domains. This can help relieve the
stress of managing the overall Active Directory environment and deliver cost savings, since you’ll need
fewer operating system server licenses and less hardware. The biggest stumbling block with an intra-
forest migration is ensuring that the users have continuous access to their resources; users will want daily
network activity to function as normal.

Inter-forest Migration
An inter-forest migration is typical when one company purchases another and wants a centralized
Active Directory environment rather than forest trusts. In an intra-forest migration, permissions are a
key concern. First, the existing forest domain administrators must have permission to migrate the users,
groups, and computers from the external domain. Second, users being migrated to the new domain will
likely need access to resources in their old external domain for some period of time, and this requires
that the external domain provide appropriate permissions.

Managing this access manually is time-consuming and prone to error. A migration tool like Migration
Manager for Active Directory can help ensure that all required access is available throughout
the migration.

Site Topology Migration

Migrations that involve migrating and collapsing Active Directory domains and forests into one another
are also complex. At the top level, considerations for network IP ranges will need to be solved, including
any VLAN configurations. Next, the site topology for replication will need to be analyzed and potentially
updated. If one of the domains currently fits into a hub-spoke site topology and the other domain fits into a
complete-mesh, the migration of the one domain into the other will need some attention to ensure that the
domain controllers, DNS servers, DFS servers and resources, and desktops are migrated from one
environment to another.

A tool such as Migration Manager for Active Directory will help you successfully execute a site topology
migration by providing the detailed information you need.

Non-trusted Domain Migration

When an external domain must be migrated into an existing domain in an Active Directory forest, trust
relationships are normally established to facilitate the migration. In some instances, however, security
restrictions prevent creation of this trust relationship, making the migration more difficult.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 8

Some third-party tools, including Migration Manager for Active Directory, can handle this migration
scenario, allowing all of the objects from the external domain to be migrated into the Active Directory
domain without the establishment of a trust.

Advanced User and Group Object Property Migration

You can simplify and speed up your migration—and ensure a cleaner target environment—by migrating
only the accounts that are needed in the target domain. A tool like Migration Manager for Active Directory
can identify expired, disabled, and system accounts and omit those accounts from the migration. You will
have more time to verify that the accounts you need were properly migrated because you won’t be
wasting time trying to clean up accounts that were unnecessarily migrated from the source domain.

Migrated Object Property Customization

In most migration scenarios, the source domain and target domain have different philosophies,
management styles, user property requirements, and databases that help manage user account
properties. Manually updating the migrated user properties would take more time than the migration itself,
so having a tool to automate the process is invaluable.

If the source domain does not have the same user properties as the target domain, but there is an
external database or configuration file that lists the desired properties, Migration Manager for Active
Directory can import these additional user properties into the migrated user property details during the
migration, saving you considerable time and effort.

Active Directory Delegation Migration

Powerful delegations can be granted in Active Directory in order for different users or administrators to
control different AD accounts. Delegation typically occurs at an organizational unit (OU) level, which
grants control over the objects contained within the OU. In most cases, groups are granted delegated
control of functions such as resetting passwords, user management, group membership management,
and overall group management. Since these delegations occur at the OU level and are configured for
groups, these delegations must be documented, tracked, and validated during and after the migration.

Trying to manage the migration of delegation manually is a daunting task. Instead, consider using a tool
such as Migration Manager for Active Directory, which provides seamless control and management of this
level of detail to help you successfully migrate the delegation of control over accounts in OUs.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 9

Resource Migration
The migration of resources from one domain to another, or from multiple domains into a single domain
presents some of the most challenging issues in a migration, including migration of the following:

Resource Permissions
In Active Directory, permissions are assigned to users via Access Control Lists (ACLs). Each list contains
references to security identifiers (SIDs) of the accounts to which the permissions are granted. To ensure
that all resources are still available after the migration, these ACLs need to be updated with the new SIDs
for the target domain. This is not a easy task, considering the volume of users and groups that need to
access a single resource in one domain, with potentially hundreds of groups listed on a single ACL,
containing potentially tens of thousands of users. A tool like Migration Manager for Active Directory
automatically provides these updates.

Service Accounts
Service accounts and the accounts used to run scheduled tasks must also be migrated to the
corresponding target accounts to ensure that services and scheduled tasks will run correctly after their
corresponding service accounts have been migrated. A tool such as Migration Manager for Active
Directory can automatically update service accounts.

Desktops
Migrating desktops from one domain to another has always been a pain point because of the work that
must be done to each desktop. The migration of the computer account in Active Directory is relatively
easy; the difficult part is changing the domain membership on the desktop itself so that the user can log
on as a user in the target domain. This has historically required configuring the desktop to change the
domain membership and then rebooting the desktop.

The right tool can greatly simplify desktop migration. With Migration Manager for Active Directory, for
instance, users needs only to log off and then log back on to see the new domain and log on with their
newly migrated user accounts. Migration Manager handles all of the domain configurations on the
desktop, including the new domain being listed on the logon prompt for the user.

Laptops
Laptops are a stumbling block in most migrations because they are not normally connected to the
corporate network. In most cases, the laptop is not migrated until it can successfully connect back to the
physical network, which might be months for some mobile users and their laptops.

Migration Manager Active Directory addresses this issue by providing logon scripts that alter the laptop
domain configuration to make the user—even when he or she is still remote—part of the target domain
and no longer associated with the source domain.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 10

Servers
In addition to desktops and laptops, servers also need to be migrated. This includes not just resource
servers, which were addressed above, but servers running Windows services that are Active Directory
domain aware and specific. Services like Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, IIS, SMS, SCCM, and even
NAS/SAN devices need to be updated to be migrated to the new domain. Migration Manager for Active
Directory automates all of these processes to simplify your migration.

Cleanup
As part of the post-migration cleanup, the source domain SID (which became the SIDHistory on the target
domain user account) needs to be deleted. Although this is not a highly complex task, it is necessary In
order to ensure the security of the new domain. A tool like Migration Manager for Active Directory can
automatically clean up this property for all migrated users, eliminating human errors that could introduce
security risks.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 11

Conclusion
Active Directory migrations can be challenging, complex, and time-consuming, but having the right tools
can speed your migration and help ensure its success. Begin your migration with a careful inventory of
your current environment. Collecting this information and developing appropriate reports manually can be
difficult and is prone to error, so consider using a third-party tool such as Quest Reporter to automate the
process and ensure you have an accurate picture of your source environment.

Once the migration begins, there are many moving parts that need to be managed, in order to minimize
interruption to business operations. All migrated accounts should constantly be updated and verified so
that access is not restricted or denied during the migration; this means that all servers, resources, and
permissions need to be fully tracked and migrated. Every file and folder must be examined, and the
groups associated with the old ACL must be updated to represent the new groups that exist in the target
domain. In addition, all of the servers that run Exchange, SharePoint, IIS, SMS, SCCM, etc. must also be
migrated from the source domain to the target domain in order to ensure seamless access to resources.
Migration is even more complex if you are migrating multiple domains into a single domain, migrating
complex site topology structures, or migrating domains that can’t have trusts established.

Investing in tools like Quest Reporter and Quest Migration Manager for Active Directory can save you
time and money and reduce migration risk by automating migration tasks and providing detailed migration
reporting and centralized management.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 12

About the Author
Derek Melber, MCSE and MVP, is president of BrainCore.Net AZ, Inc., an independent consultant and
speaker, as well as author of many IT books. Derek educates and evangelizes Microsoft technology,
focusing on Active Directory, Group Policy, security, and desktop management. As one of only eight
MVPs in the world on Group Policy, Derek’s company is often called upon to develop end-to-end
solutions regarding Group Policy for companies. Derek is the author of the ―The Windows Group Policy
Resource Kit‖ by Microsoft Press, which is the authoritative book on the subject. Derek is also author of
the ―Group Policy Video Mentor‖ (Pearson), the perfect resource for learning Group Policy basics. You
can hire Derek to perform Windows security audits and also train your team on the finer points of
Windows security. You can reach Derek at derekm@braincore.net.

White Paper: Mastering Active Directory Migrations 13

WHITE PAPER

About Quest Software, Inc.

Quest Software (Nasdaq: QSFT) simplifies and reduces the cost of managing IT for more
than 100,000 customers worldwide. Our innovative solutions make solving the toughest IT
management problems easier, enabling customers to save time and money across physical,
virtual and cloud environments. For more information about Quest solutions for application
management, database management, Windows management, virtualization management
and IT management, go to www.quest.com.

Contacting Quest Software

PHONE 800.306.9329 (United States and Canada)
If you are located outside North America, you can find your
local office information on our Web site.

EMAIL sales@quest.com

MAIL Quest Software, Inc.

World Headquarters
5 Polaris Way
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
USA

Contacting Quest Support

Quest Support is available to customers who have a trial version of a Quest product or who
have purchased a commercial version and have a valid maintenance contract.

Quest Support provides around-the-clock coverage with SupportLink, our Web self-service.
Visit SupportLink at https://support.quest.com.

SupportLink gives users of Quest Software products the ability to:

• Search Quest’s online Knowledgebase

• Download the latest releases, documentation, and patches for Quest products

• Log support cases

• Manage existing support cases

View the Global Support Guide for a detailed explanation of support programs, online services,
contact information, and policies and procedures.

5 Polaris Way, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 | PHONE 800.306.9329 | WEB www.quest.com | E-MAIL sales@quest.com
If you are located outside North America, you can find local office information on our Web site.

© 2011 Quest Software, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Quest, Quest Software, the Quest Software logo are registered trademarks of Quest Software, Inc. in the U.S.A. and/or other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective
owners. WPW_MasterADMigrations_US_EC_20110221