I want to change to my secondary AD on-premise.

Question

I want to change to my secondary AD on-premise.

James Ogunremi 1

The server connected to the office 365 AD Sync is currently offline. I want to change to my secondary AD on-premise. How do I change the on-premise server where AD connect is syncing users from

Givary-MSFT 35,626 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2022-07-05T09:38:22.557+00:00
@James Ogunremi

Thank you for reaching out to us. As I understand your primary Azure AD connect Server is offline, you want to know the steps of changing the secondary Azure AD connect server ( which is in staging mode ) to the primary Azure AD Connect Server, so that user information is synced to Azure AD.

Steps to remove the server from staging mode:

Launch "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect\AzureADConnect.exe"

Select option "Configure staging mode"

Enter Azure AD Global Admin Credentials, Click Next

Uncheck Enable Staging mode option and proceed further.

This will remove the server from the staging mode, any changes in on-premises AD will be synced to Azure AD via this server.

Note: If my understanding of the issue is incorrect, please let me know.

Let me know if you have any further questions.
James Ogunremi 1 Reputation point

2022-07-05T09:50:58.767+00:00

Thank you for your response. My situation is that we only have the AD connect of the primary AD server which is now offline. We do not currently have it on the secondary AD. So I want now install the AD connect on the secondary server so it can be syncing users' info to office 365. Do you get me now?

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Your answer

Givary-MSFT 35,626 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2022-07-05T09:38:22.557+00:00

@James Ogunremi

Thank you for reaching out to us. As I understand your primary Azure AD connect Server is offline, you want to know the steps of changing the secondary Azure AD connect server ( which is in staging mode ) to the primary Azure AD Connect Server, so that user information is synced to Azure AD.

Steps to remove the server from staging mode:

Launch "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect\AzureADConnect.exe"

Select option "Configure staging mode"

Enter Azure AD Global Admin Credentials, Click Next

Uncheck Enable Staging mode option and proceed further.

This will remove the server from the staging mode, any changes in on-premises AD will be synced to Azure AD via this server.

Note: If my understanding of the issue is incorrect, please let me know.

Let me know if you have any further questions.
James Ogunremi 1 Reputation point

2022-07-05T09:50:58.767+00:00

Thank you for your response. My situation is that we only have the AD connect of the primary AD server which is now offline. We do not currently have it on the secondary AD. So I want now install the AD connect on the secondary server so it can be syncing users' info to office 365. Do you get me now?

Answer 1

Givary-MSFT 35,626 Microsoft Employee Moderator

@James Ogunremi Thanks for clarifying on this, As I understand you want to install Azure AD Connect on another server as your primary server is offline.

Have you created any kind of document so that you can refer when you installed primary Azure AD Connect server with respect to configuration? any sync rules modified?

When you install Azure AD connect on your secondary server, make sure you configure it in staging mode, this action makes the server active for import and synchronization, but it does not run any exports.

A server in staging mode continues to receive changes from Active Directory and Azure AD and can quickly take over the responsibilities of another server in the event of a failure. If you make configuration changes to your primary server, it is your responsibility to make the same changes to the server in staging mode.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/hybrid/how-to-connect-sync-staging-server

Let me know if you have any further questions.

James Ogunremi 1 Reputation point

2022-07-05T10:13:48.657+00:00

So if i do what you mentioned above, will password and user accounts still sync to office 365? Like if I create a user on the secondary AD, will the user appear on office 365? When I change a password here on the secondary AD, will the password synchronize to office 365?
Givary-MSFT 35,626 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2022-07-05T10:58:29.75+00:00

@James Ogunremi

Yes if you select password sync during the Azure AD Connect installation, then passwords will be synchronized to Azure AD.

Let me know if you have any further questions.
Johan Heyneke 81 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2022-07-05T11:06:46.067+00:00

Hi. Is you problem resolved or do you require further information or assistance?
Main rule to consider, don't run two (2) active Azure AD Connect servers at the same time. It seems your primary is down. It is ok to deploy another, but don't bring the "old" primary back online. Then consider deploying staging as fail over should something like this occur in future.

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I want to change to my secondary AD on-premise.

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