UMove is the only software utility that can move, recover, or clone the MicrosoftActive Directorydatabase for backup, recovery, or testing.

UMove is the only utility that can make daily snapshots or clone the Active Directory (AD) database, even from a dead computer. It can back up and recover AD like no other utility.

Reliable and Quick Recovery

If your domain controller (DC) hardware fails you have only two recovery options: Rebuild the dead DC using a 20+ step manual procedure and complicated command-line tools, or restore the entire operating system onto identical computer hardware.

Microsoft does not support restoring the System State backup from one computer to a second computer of a different make, model, or hardware configuration (KB249694). With UMove you can move the AD database to new computer hardware quickly and easily.

A True Recovery Utility

UMove is a true recovery utility. It can rescue AD from any source or backup, even from a dead computer.

UMove should not be confused with more expensive “undo” utilities that create a parallel database to track and roll back changes. UMove simply clones the entire AD database by taking a perfect snapshot. It runs NTBACKUP to copy only the files used by AD, keeping the size small, creating a standard .BKF file for easy recovery on another computer.

Make Reliable Backups

UMove can make reliable automatic daily backups of Active Directory. The backups include all information required to restore AD. The backups include important extra information outside of AD that is essential to move AD to a different computer. Only UMove is designed to move all of the AD to any replacement computer regardless of its hardware configuration.

Clone AD for Testing

Microsoft recommends that you validate the compatibility of all security-related configuration changes in a test forest before you introduce them in a production environment (KB823659).

UMove allows you to clone AD so that you can test your changes to Active Directory. You can copy a snapshot of AD to an isolated virtual machine (VM) or to an offline computer, with no worry about USN rollback.

Upgrade to R2

With UMove you can upgrade your old 32-bit computer running Windows Server 2008 to a replacement 64-bit computer running Windows Server 2008 R2. There is no complicated AD migration procedure. An in-place upgrade swaps out the computer hardware while leaving the network identity of the domain controller unchanged. As far as the member computers and other DCs are concerned, the identity of the DC remains exactly the same.

• Certificate Services
• COM+
• DHCP Service
• WINS Service
• Encrypting File System (EFS)
• Exchange Server
• Internet Information Services (IIS)
• SharePoint
• Terminal Services Licensing Service
• WINS Service

UMove Users

UMove has helped many businesses, universities, and Fortune 500 companies. Those you may recognize include the following:

• Barclays
• Brink's
• Citizens National Bank
• Columbia University
• Computer Sciences Corporation
• Home Depot
• Goodrich
• IBM
• Imperial Sugar
• KPMG
• Logitech
• New York University
• PacAir
• Saudi Aramco Mobil
• US Air Force
• US Army
• University of Buffalo
• Varian Medical Systems

Requirements

To use UMove your computer must be running one of the following operating systems:

Editions: UMove is compatible with all editions of Windows shown above. This includes the Small Business, Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions of the above operating systems. UMove is compatible with the Release 2 (R2) Editions of Windows Server and with Windows Server Core.

Languages: UMove is compatible with all language editions of the operating systems shown above. This includes CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) languages. UMove displays text in English.

Same Base Operating System

When moving Active Directory between computers the source computer must be running the same base operating system as the destination computer. If (for example) the source computer is running an edition of Windows Server 2008 then the destination computer must also run an edition of Windows Server 2008.

In most cases you can move Active Directory to a different edition of Windows Server if the base operating system is the same. For example you can move AD from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition. Or from Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition to Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition. See the Compatibility Matrix.

32-bit to 64-bit

UMove can move Active Directory from the 32-bit edition of Windows Server (x86) to the 64-bit edition of Windows Server (x64). You need to purchase the 64-bit edition of UMove to move AD from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows. You do not need to purchase the 32-bit edition of UMove. You candownload the 32-bit edition of UMove and install it on the 32-bit server using the free evaluation license that is built-in to the software.

Release 2 (R2)

You can move Active Directory from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2003 Release 2 (R2), or from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 Release 2 (R2).

More Information

For additional details on compatibility see the Compatibility Matrix.