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Transferring the Backup

When you run U-Move on the source computer it will create a snapshot of Active Directory. This snapshot will be written to backup media, such as a .BKF file. After U-Move is done you can transfer the backup media from the source computer to the destination computer.

You can move the backup media using any of these methods:

• Copy to a portable USB storage device (thumb drive)
• Copy to a tape device
• Copy to a writable CD or DVD
• Copy to a folder on the physical host of the virtual machine
• Copy to a shared folder (or NAS) on a 3rd party server
• Copy directly to the destination computer or VM (see caution below)

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Caution: Copying Directly

In addition to the above methods, you can copy the snapshot directly to the destination computer. This assumes that you have prepared the destination computer by giving it a different computer name and a different Internet address that do not conflict with the source computer.

Caution: After you copy the snapshot you must permanently disconnect either the source or the destination computer from the network. U-Move will refuse to load AD if it detects the same computer on the same network.

Two computers must never run a cloned Active Directory database on the same network at the same time. This can cause serious confusion on your network and can create errors in AD replication.

The following example will copy a backup file named MyBackup.BKF on the source computer to a destination computer named DestComputer:

NET USE V: \\DestComputer\C$ /USER:DestComputer\Administrator *
COPY C:\MyBackup.BKF V:\MyBackup.BKF
NET USE V: /DELETE


Disconnecting After Transfer

If you are doing a planned move, you need to disconnect the source computer from the network before you run U-Move on the destination computer.

If you are doing a test copy, you need to disconnect the destination computer from the network while you run your tests. Note: Do not disable the network interface controller (NIC) in Device Manager. Doing so will prevent loopback connectivity to AD within the domain controller itself. Instead you should disconnect the network cable or disable the virtual NIC on the host while you run your tests.

For more information

See Manual Transfer.