Domain Controller Cloning with Windows Server 2012

Windows server 2012 brings a set of new features and capabilities that will make IT admins life easier . In this post I will demonstrate Virtualized Domain Controller ( VDC ) as a new innovative way to create additional domain controllers.

VDC is a technique that allows you to simply get a new – cloned - virtualized domain controller from another virtualized one without going into the hassle of  OS installation , OS patching and domain controller promotion.

In order to perform VDC – clone a domain controller – some condition must be justified , as below :

• PDC emulator FSMO role are located at a Windows Server 2012 RC DC
• PDC emulator available during cloning operations [ PDC emulator DC cannot be used for DC cloning ]
• The Hyper-V host must be joined the same domain
• The source Windows Server 2012 RC domain controller cannot have been previously migrated from FRS to DFSR for SYSVOL

My lab setup will be as follow :

Hostname	Roles	IP	Mask	DNS
ITGD-HV01	Hyper-V	10.10.10.10	255.255.255.0	10.10.10.11 | 10.10.10.12
ITGD-DC01	ADDS & DNS	10.10.10.12	255.255.255.0	10.10.10.11 | 10.10.10.12
ITGD-DC02	ADDS & DNS	10.10.10.12	255.255.255.0	10.10.10.12 | 10.10.10.11

• ITGD-DC01 : Holds PDC emulator operation master
• ITGD-DC02 : To be cloned domain controller

Target

• To clone ITGD-DC02 to a new virtualized domain controller [ ITGD-DC03 ]

Procedure
Ensure that PDC emulator is located at on a Windows 2012 server [ ITGD-DC01 ] , which can be achieved by executing :

• Get-ADComputer (Get-ADDomainController –Discover –Service “PrimaryDC”).name –Property operatingsystemversion | fl

• Nerdom Query FSMO

On ITGD-DC02 , go to C:\Windows\System32 and locate “SampleDCCloneConfig.xml”

Open With Notepad , add Computer Name, Site Name , TCP/IP settings [ in bold below ]

Save the file as DCCloneConfig.xml at C:\Windows\NTDS

Use Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in to add ITGD-DC02 to “Cloneable Domain Controllers” group

Shutdown ITGD-DC02 , create a new virtual machine [ ITGD-DC03 ]  , without a virtual disk 

Copy ITGD-DC02 virtual disk to the new VM and attach it.

Power on ITGD-DC02 VM , then ITGD-DC03 VM and monitor domain controller cloning process

When completed , ITGD-DC03 will appear at Domain Controllers OU and under its designated site 


Finally , you can validate replication with Repadmin /replsum

Now my cloned domain controller [ ITGD-03 ] are functioning after being cloned ; awesome , isn’t ? . Go and try it yourself
Reference : Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Virtualization