Active Directory Rights Management Services - Parallels Upgrade

Description:
You have an Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS) being deployed in your IT Environment. You need to upgrade the version of ADRMS, the Windows OS, and also the Database with minimal downtime and minimal risk to new Windows 2019 and SQL 2019 machines.
You decided to do a Parallel Upgrade.

Resolution:

You would need to perform the following:

1. Prepare the new Windows 2019 OS and SQL 2019 Databases on different machines. Install all the necessary patches.
2. Back up the existing AD RMS database.
3. Restore the AD RMS databases to a new location (new instance, new SQL server, etc.).
4. The following SQL changes must be made on the restored databases.
• Database: DRMS_Config
• Table: DRMS_ClusterPolicies
• PolicyName entries in which the PolicyData value needs to reflect the new SQL connection string information.
• LoggingDatabaseServer
• CertificationUserKeyStorageConnectionString
• DirectoryServicesCacheDatabase
5. Built a new Windows Server of the desired version for the AD RMS cluster upgrade.
6. Add the AD RMS role.
7. When it gets to the role configuration choose the “join an existing cluster” option.
8. At the SQL database dialog enter the NEWLY RESTORED SQL database location, not the actual production database currently in use.
9. Complete the role configuration using all the same settings, service accounts, etc.
10. Edit the NTFS permissions on new AD RMS server's "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\_wmcs\certification\ServerCertification.asmx" file. Configure the same permissions as on the existing AD RMS server.