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The Storage Team at Microsoft File Cabinet Blog

The Storage Team Blog about file services and storage features in Windows and Windows Server.

SYSVOL Migration Series: Part 5 Migrating to the

ELIMINATED state
cfsbloggers

19 Mar 2008 9:38 AM

The previous article in this series explained how to migrate replication of the SYSVOL share to the REDIRECTED state. In this article,
we examine how to complete migration of all domain controllers to the ELIMINATED state.

Before we begin
Remember that the migration process to the ELIMINATED state cannot be reverted under any circumstances. Therefore, ensure that
SYSVOL replication using the DFS Replication service is healthy, before committing entirely to finalizing the migration process.
Before migrating to the ELIMINATED state, a couple of precautions are advised.
a)
All domain controllers are in REDIRECTED state: The most important precaution is to ensure that all domain
controllers have successfully migrated to the REDIRECTED state before changing the global migration state to the
ELIMINATED state. As mentioned in the previous article, the command line switch GetMigrationState can be used to
ensure that all domain controllers have reached the REDIRECTED state.
b) Verify that the SYSVOL share is still being shared out: by all domain controllers and that the SYSVOL share path
points to the path that is being replicated by the DFS Replication service (the SYSVOL_DFSR folder location). This can be
done by typing net share on the domain controller. The SYSVOL share is listed if it is being shared out by that domain
controller.

Migrating to ELIMINATED state

Lets look at how to migrate SYSVOL replication on the domain to the ELIMINATED state. Please follow the below mentioned steps
and pay special attention to any caution or warnings that are mentioned below.
STEP 1: Check health of Active Directory Replication.
Since the migration directive is set on the Primary Domain Controller and needs to be replicated to the Active Directory on each of
the replica domain controllers in the domain, it is necessary to ensure that Active Directory replication is working fine. This can be
done using the RepAdmin /ReplSum command. This step assumes importance in case of remote domain controllers, since those
domain controllers will participate in SYSVOL migration only after noticing the migration directive, which in turn is dependent on
Active Directory replication between the two sites.
STEP 2: Set the migration directive.
On the Primary Domain Controller, run the dfsrmig.exe tool and set the migration global state to ELIMINATED state (State 3). Issue
the command dfsrmig /setGlobalState 3 on the Primary Domain Controller to commence migration to the ELIMINATED state.
STEP 3: Monitor to ensure that all domain controllers have reached the ELIMINATED state successfully.
Use the dfsrmig /getMigrationState command to ensure that all domain controllers have successfully migrated to the
ELIMINATED state. Ensure that the output for this command mentions that all domain controllers have reached the ELIMINATED
state.
When the DFS Replication service on each domain controller reaches the ELIMINATED state, Information event 8019 will
be registered in the event log.

What happens under the hood?

When the DFS Replication service notices the migration directive that has been set in Active Directory instructing it to migrate to
the global migration state ELIMINATED, it performs the following sequence of operations on each domain controller:
a)

The migration local state is set to 7 (ELIMINATING).

b)

The DFS Replication service now performs the following set of actions on every domain controller:

The dependency between the NTDS service and the FRS service is now removed.

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If the FRS service is running on the domain controller, it is then stopped. It deletes the Active Directory
configuration settings required for the FRS service to replicate the SYSVOL share between domain controllers.
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. Note that if you have
Windows Explorer or the command shell open on the domain controller and if the current directory corresponds
to the SYSVOL folder location, the DFS Replication service will be unable to delete this folder owing to sharing
violations.
If the FRS service is replicating any other content sets (apart from SYSVOL) on the domain controller, it is
then started up again.
c) The migration local state is set to 3 (ELIMINATED). From this point onwards, the SYSVOL share advertised by the
domain controller is the one that is replicated using the DFS Replication service. The FRS service no longer replicates any
copy of the SYSVOL folder on the domain controller.

During this migration process, the local migration state on the domain controller will cycle through the intermediate state of
ELIMINATING (State 7). All domain controllers undergo this procedure until they reach the ELIMINATED migration state.

Can this migration step be rolled back?

No! At this point, the use of FRS on the domain controller for SYSVOL replication purposes has been eliminated.

Monitoring things closely

SYSVOL migration is designed to automatically recognize the migration directive and take steps on each domain controller to
comply with that directive. Therefore, for the most part, the /getMigrationState command should be sufficient to monitor the
progress of migration to the ELIMINATED state.
However, it is also possible for an administrator to monitor the domain controller closely and ensure that the tasks performed by
the DFS Replication service while migrating to the ELIMINATED state have been completed successfully. There are also some
troubleshooting steps that can be performed to speed up Active Directory replication and Active Directory poll induced delays in
the migration process.
a)
Verify the current local state on each domain controller. Navigate through the registry to the location
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\DFSR\Parameters\SysVols\Migrating SysVols and check to see
the value of the registry key LocalState. Ensure this registry key is set to 3 once the domain controller has migrated to
the ELIMINATED state.
b)
Ensure that SYSVOL share replication has indeed been redirected. In order to ensure that the DFS Replication
service is replicating the SYSVOL share that is shared out on the domain, check to see the values of the SysVol and
SysvolReady registry keys mentioned above. Ensure that the SysVol registry key is pointing to the SYSVOL_DFSR folder
location. Once the migration to the ELIMINATED state is complete, ensure that the old copy of the SYSVOL folder that was
being replicated by FRS is deleted.
c) Force Active Directory replication on a domain controller. In order to force Active Directory replication, issue the
command repadmin /syncall /AeDon the domain controller.
d)
Force the DFS Replication service to poll Active Directory. In order to force an Active Directory poll, issue the
command dfsrdiag PollAd on the domain controller. To force an Active Directory poll on another domain controller
issue the command dfsrdiag PollAd /Member:DC_NAME.
e) If you find that migration is taking a long time to reach the ELIMINATED state on a particular domain controller,
the following set of monitoring steps may be taken:
Issue the dfsrmig /getGlobalState command to find the global migration state and ensure that it is
indeed set to ELIMINATED. If this command is issued on the domain controller that is taking a long time to
migrate, the administrator can figure out whether Active Directory replication has completed replication of the
migration directive to that domain controller.

Check to see the local migration state. The local state could take any of the values below during this
migration step:

Local state 2 (REDIRECTED state)

Local state 7 (intermediate ELIMINATING state)

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Local state 3 (ELIMINATED state). This usually signifies that the domain controller has
completed migration to the ELIMINATED state.
Note that there are valid reasons for delay. Ensure that you are cognizant of these and have given enough
time for these latencies to play out.
The migration directive relies on Active Directory replication to be visible on each individual
domain controller. Therefore, the speed with which each domain controller notices and acts upon the
migration directive is dependent on Active Directory replication latencies.
During this migration process, the DFS Replication service needs to delete the corresponding FRS
settings in Active Directory. Since read-only domain controllers cannot modify objects in Active Directory
they rely on the Primary Domain Controller doing so on their behalf. Therefore, it is not uncommon to
find that a read-only domain controller takes a longer time at the intermediate local state 7
(ELIMINATING), while it waits for the Primary Domain Controller to delete its FRS settings.
Check to see the Eventlog for any events (Warning or Error) which the DFS Replication service logs during
the SYSVOL migration process. These events will tell you more about what operations have completed and whether
the service is stuck for any particular reason.

Taking stock
Now that weve completed migration of the domain to the ELIMINATED state, it is time to take stock of things. In the ELIMINATED
state:
a)

Only DFSR is replicating the SYSVOL share on the domain.

b)
The SYSVOL share that is advertised by the domain controller corresponds to the SYSVOL_DFSR folder that is
replicated by the DFS Replication service. Therefore, the main replication engine on the domain in the ELIMINATED state is
DFSR.
c)
New domain controllers that are promoted after reaching the ELIMINATED state will default to using the DFS
Replication service for replicating the contents of the SYSVOL share.
d)

It is not possible to rollback from the ELIMINATED state.

The author would like to thank Wakkas Rafiq, Jatin Shah, Christophe Robert on the DFS Replication Service product team for their
help with these articles and indeed for building this feature in Windows Server 2008.

More articles on SYSVOL Migration Series:

1: SYSVOL Migration Series: Part 1 Introduction to the SYSVOL migration process
2: SYSVOL Migration Series: Part 2 Dfsrmig.exe: The SYSVOL migration tool
3: SYSVOL Migration Series: Part 3 - Migrating to the 'PREPARED' State
4: SYSVOL Migration Series: Part 4 Migrating to the REDIRECTED state
------Mahesh Unnikrishnan

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Comments
Anonymous

3 May 2008 4:16 AM

PingBack from http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/archive/2008/02/14/sysvol-migration-series-part-2-dfsrmig-exethe-sysvol-migration-tool.aspx

Anonymous

22 May 2008 8:38 PM

Hi, Ned here again. You’ve probably already started reading about how Windows Server 2008 now
supports

http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2008/03/19/sysvol-migration-series-part-5-migrating-to-the-eliminated-state.aspx

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Anonymous

1 May 2009 9:51 PM

Hi, Ned here again. Today I'm going to go through some well-hidden information on DFSR SYSVOL migration;

http://blogs.technet.com/b/filecab/archive/2008/03/19/sysvol-migration-series-part-5-migrating-to-the-eliminated-state.aspx

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