Migrating Roles or Replication

Question

Hello, 

I have a WS 2012R2 which is  a AD, DC, DNS,DHCP and File Server. (was like that)

The domain users have Roaming Profiles, and Folder Redirection activated, and those user files are saved on this server.  Re-Moving folder redirection seems painful. I have started it with some users. 

Now, I need to upgrade it to WS2019. Based on the recommendation i should do a migration of the roles to the new server. 

But, would it work if I run another VM which is on WS2019 and I replicate the DC, DHCP,DNS, and at the end AD. Then, I remove those roles from server 1 and leave only File Sharing. In this way Server 2 will be in charge. Then I do an inplace upgrade of Server 1 to WS2019, and I use Server 1 only for file sharing. 

Does it make sense? 

Is it possible to be done in this way, so I do not do migrations of the roles. 

Thank You very much for your thoughts/recommendations. 

Best Regards. 

Answer 1

Something here could help.

https://niktips.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/moving-active-directory-roaming-profiles-to-another-server/

The two prerequisites to introducing the first 2019 or 2022 domain controller are that domain functional level needs to be 2008 or higher and older sysvol FRS replication needs to have been migrated to DFSR

I'd use dcdiag / repadmin tools to verify health correcting all errors found before starting any operations. Then stand up the new 2019 or 2022, patch it fully, license it, join existing domain, add active directory domain services, promote it also making it a GC (recommended), transfer FSMO roles over (optional), transfer pdc emulator role (optional), use dcdiag / repadmin tools to again verify health, when all is good you can decommission / demote old one.

You could export / import the DHCP server scopes.

Import-DhcpServer

Export-DhcpServer

--please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

Answer 2

Hi. Thank you for your question and reaching out. I’d be more than happy to help you with your query

It is possible to do a migration to a new Windows Server 2019 instance by running another virtual machine on Windows Server 2019, replicating the roles to the new instance, and then removing those roles from the original server. You would then be able to do an in-place upgrade of the original server to Windows Server 2019, and then use the upgraded server only for file sharing.

However, you should be aware that this process may be more complex than a typical migration, as there may be other settings or configurations that need to be taken into account. Additionally, you may need to do some additional configuration on the new server to ensure that it is properly configured for the roles that you have replicated to it. It is also important to test the new server thoroughly before making the switch to ensure that all of the roles are properly configured and working as expected.

If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer, thank you.