RM Unify / Office 365

[Wubbalubbadub]

Hi all,

 

I have posted this question on another thread, but thought i should make a new one as well!

 

I have just got a new job as a network manager at a school that currently has an RM network... They desperately want to get away from RM (Strangely whats tempted me to the job!) so I have been asked to get it done...

 

I have had 2 induction days and they are currently on CC4.. Which is using Office 365 for the emails... Great stuff! However it all synced up into the RM unify stuff! including there own RM Sync tool (Guessing its a rebranded Dir sync)

 

Anyway my plan to migrate away from RM was to build a separate domain along side the current RM network, get everything ready and then start moving people over... but how do i go about moving over the office 365 stuff... even if i kept the RM sync tool i would need to move it over to the new domain.. how do i do that!? Has anyone ever had any experience of this?

 

They want to keep the RM unify VLE... although it doesn't seem very VLE like... Just a page with links to different places!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[halbaradkenafin]

The RM Sync tool still works and is pretty easy to get working (or so I'm told). Give their support team a ring and they'll be able to help, I think you have to be careful and make sure you migrate the accounts properly so they keep GUIDs and then the tool pretty much just works after disabling it on the other domain and starting it up again on the new one.

[Wubbalubbadub]

Someone has recommended not creating a new domain and actually new OU's and GPO's...

 

Seems like I may need to do that. However what about maybe creating a trust between the domains and then moving the users over?

 

Matt

[halbaradkenafin]

Someone has recommended not creating a new domain and actually new OU's and GPO's...

 

If you're moving away from CC4 then a new domain is pretty much necessary, the amount of stuff it changes in AD with all it's "features" makes it basically impossible to remove cleanly.

 

Seems like I may need to do that. However what about maybe creating a trust between the domains and then moving the users over?

 

Yeah, you'll need to set up a trust between your current domain and the new one and then use ADMT to migrate users etc over. If you're moving from 2003 to 2012R2 you'll need a 2008 DC first to migrate to and then stand up a 2012R2 DC as you can't go 2003 -> 2012R2. My process would be:

 

Create 2008(R2) DC with new domain

Create Trust between new domain and old

ADMT users over

Create 2012R2 DC on new domain and let replication happen

Clear Trust between domains (not strictly necessary but worth doing anyway)

Promote at least one more 2012R2 DC

Set up RM Sync on new domain and run it on a test OU with some test accounts you'd migrated from the old domain to ensure it doesn't create new O365 accounts etc.

Demote 2008 DC after a week or two to ensure full replication.