Miramar Systems Inc. next week will bring a new twist to Microsoft Active Directory server migrations with the ability to migrate end user desktop settings.
The Santa Barbara, Calif., companys Desktop DNA Enterprise Edition version 4.6 automates the process of transferring user profiles from Windows NT Server 4.0 domains to Windows Server 2003 Active Directory.
The market leading tool, which migrates individual users settings, data and preferences during a Windows operating system update or hardware refresh, complements server migration tools that dont address end user desktop settings, according to Mike Walker, director of marketing at Miramar in Santa Barbara, Calif.
“It usually takes a technician 20 minutes to visit a remote machine, look for security settings and take that, collect permissions and the user profile and do comprehensive data collection to do a complete move to Active Directory,” he said.
Even without a move to Active Directory, enterprise users can shave time off the process of moving users from one Windows NT Server 4.0 domain to another, believes Greg Goodman, vice president of product management for Miramar in Santa Barbara.
“As soon as you change domains, user profiles are messed up so that they dont sync with main server. That could lock users out of some files. People had been throwing out user profiles and starting over when they consolidated domains,” he said.
Desktop DNA Enterprise Edition 4.6 remedies that with a new “User Redirection” function that renames users during a migration. It can rename, copy, create and move any user profile to different domains or Active Directory.
Miramar also added the new DNA Options Editor to the enterprise editions migration management toolkit. The new DNA Options Editor provides a Wizard interface to manipulate default configuration files within Desktop DNA, rather than having to know how to work with XML. “This cleans it up a lot and just gives you fields to change instead of text to edit,” explained Goodman.
Also new in version 4.6 is the ability to work within other software distribution or change management tools, such as Microsofts Systems Management Server or Novadigms Radia.
The new release is due out July 7.