Active Directory

Domain Replication Update to DFS Replication

One of our domains was inadvertently left at Windows 2000 functional level after a rebuild from Windows 2003 domain controllers to Windows 2008 R2. We remediated this situation by raising the forest and domain functional levels to Windows 2008 R2. As a best practice, domain replication needed to be updated to DFS replication as well.

Below are the steps we took to perform the domain replication update after raising the forest and domain functional levels to Windows 2008 R2.

First Step:  Verify Domain Health
  1. Run the net share command to verify that the SYSVOL folder is shared.
  2. Verify SysVol registry entries:
    1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters and verify that the value of the SysVol registry entry is [drive:\]Windows_folder\SYSVOL\sysvol,
    2. and that the value of the SysvolReady registry entry is 1.
  3. Verify that the DFS Replication service is listed with the values of Started in the Status column and Automatic in the Startup Type column.
  4. Run repadmin /ReplSum to get a status of replication between domain controllers.
  5. Run dcdiag and examine the output for possible errors.
Second Step:  Migrate Replication to DFS Replication
  1. In PowerShell, type dfsrmig /setglobalstate 1. The new global migration state is now set to “prepared”.
  2. Type dfsrmig /GetMigrationState and verify that the new state is “consistent”.
  3. Verify that the SYSVOL_DFSR folder has been created under C:\Windows.
  4. Type dfsrmig /setglobalstate 2 to go from the “Prepared” state to the “Redirected” state.
  5. Examine the migration process by typing dfsrmig /GetMigrationState. Once the domain controllers have reached a consistent state, proceed to the next step.
  6. Ensure that all domain controllers have successfully migrated to the ‘REDIRECTED’ state before changing the global migration state to the ‘ELIMINATED’ state.
  7. Type dfsrmig /setGlobalState 3.

There will be a series of tasks that now will be performed in the background: the FRS service is stopped, the Active Directory configuration settings required for the FRS service to replicate the SYSVOL share between domain controllers are deleted. Thus, all global settings of the FRS service that pertain to the SYSVOL content set are deleted. The ‘SYSVOL’ folder which was being replicated by the FRS service is now deleted.

  1. Verify that the File Replication Service is now stopped.