azure migrate domain joined vm

Question

Hello,

what's the best practice for migrate to azure vm that are in a domain? i have this vm onporem domain joined they will be migrated to azure and then the name will change, i suppose i need to remove them from doamin and re join them. is there any best practice for this?

thanks

Answer 1

@ares Greetings!

It is generally recommended to remove the virtual machines from the domain before migrating them to Azure. This is because the virtual machines will receive a new name and IP address when they are migrated to Azure, which can cause issues with the domain membership.

For Active Directory, if hybrid environments where the on-premises site is connected to your Azure environment, you can extend your Directory into Azure by adding extra domain controllers in Azure and setting up Active Directory replication. If you're migrating into an isolated environment in Azure requiring its own domain controllers (or testing applications in a sandbox environment), you can migrate servers using the Migration and modernization tool.

FAQ reference link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/migrate/common-questions-server-migration#can-i-migrate-active-directory-domain-controllers-using-azure-migrate

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Assess your on-premises environment using Azure Migrate: Server Assessment. This will help you identify the servers that need to be migrated and ensure that they meet the requirements for migration.
2. Create a virtual network in Azure that will be used to host the domain controllers. Ensure that the virtual network is connected to your on-premises network using a VPN or ExpressRoute.
3. Deploy domain controllers in Azure virtual machines. You can use Azure Marketplace images or create your own custom images.
4. Join the domain controllers to your on-premises Active Directory domain.
5. Configure Active Directory replication between the on-premises domain controllers and the Azure domain controllers.
6. Update DNS settings to ensure that clients can resolve domain names to the Azure domain controllers.
7. Migrate other servers and applications to Azure as needed.
8. Decommission the on-premises domain controllers once you have verified that the Azure domain controllers are functioning correctly.

Doc references: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/identity/adds-extend-domain

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/

Hope this helps!

Please write back to us if you need further assistance in this matter.