Business Problems

An organization with 120 users operated on two Domain Controllers (DCs): Primary (DC01) and Secondary (DC-01). All user data resided centrally on these DCs, with no data stored on individual PCs. Folder redirection was managed via Group Policy Objects (GPO), ensuring that user profiles and documents were stored directly on the DCs.

‍

The company wanted to decommission its on-premises DCs and move to a cloud-first environment using Microsoft OneDrive for individual user storage - a common goal in modern cloud migration services.

Data Migration Complexity: Since all user folders were on DCs, the process required migrating data from DCs to local PCs first and then syncing to OneDrive for each user. This multi-step process is typical in on-premises to cloud transitions.
User Onboarding Issues: During the transition, new user accounts failed to onboard properly because folders were being created on the secondary DC (DC-01) instead of the primary DC (DC01). The folder redirection path was misconfigured, preventing correct folder creation for new users.
GPO Dependency: Existing GPO settings enforced folder storage on DCs, making it challenging to switch to a cloud-based model without disrupting user workflows.

Project Plan

● Correcting Folder Redirection and GPO Settings

The IT team reviewed and updated GPO policies to ensure that folder redirection was removed and that local PCs could store data temporarily before OneDrive migration.

● Data Migration Strategy

Step 1: Migrated user folders from DCs to Users’ OneDrive.
Step 2: Configure OneDrive sync on each PCs to sync the data from the cloud.
Step 3: Verified that each user’s data synced successfully to their respective OneDrive and local PCs. This approach allowed the company to implement a secure and efficient cloud migration strategy.

● Fixing User Onboarding Errors

The root cause of the onboarding issue was that folders were attempting to create profiles on the secondary DC, instead of the primary DC.
Corrected folder redirection paths and ensured that primary DC (DC01) was used as the authoritative source until decommissioning.

Benefits

Successful Data Migration: All user data was moved from on-premises DCs to OneDrive, ensuring secure cloud storage and accessibility.
Resolved Onboarding Issues: Correcting folder paths allowed new user folders to be created successfully, enabling smooth onboarding.
Cloud-First Model: With DCs decommissioned, the organization now leverages OneDrive as the primary storage solution, improving scalability and reducing infrastructure costs - key goals of a cloud-first environment setup.
Improved User Experience: Users can now access their files from any device, without being tied to on-premises DC infrastructure, reflecting the success of a well-planned IT consulting firm engagement.

Cloud DC Migration

Business Problems

Project Plan

Benefits