If you implement a complex synchronization profile connection (specific OU, some exclusion…), you may to backup it in case of disaster recovery or need to reuse it.
To do so, launch the FIM console (located in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\14.0\Synchronization Service\UIShell directory – the program is miisclient.exe).
Click on the Meta Agents tab to view all agents created; you should have at least 3 agents:
- ILMMA
- MOSS-<guid>
- MOSSAD-<name of your connection> (in case of AD synchronisation)
Select the MOSSAD connection and click on the Export management agent button on the left; this will generate an XML file. Don’t modify it (it’s really unreadable) and you will have option to change the agent when you will import it on another SharePoint server. More important, in case of your agent has been created with one AD domain and need to reuse it with another one, you will have the opportunity to change the relation.
The import operation is also very simple; launch the console on the other SharePoint server, after copying the XML file, and click on the Import management agent.
After selecting the XML file, a wizard will appear to assist you in the (re) configuration operations.
During this wizard, you can change the AD domain use, the service account…
Once you have reached the last step (configure extension), the connection will appear in the User Profile Service Application you have created.
Off course, you can also use the FIM console to manage inclusion/exclusion, OU used for the synchronization…
At the time of writing this post, I don’t know if this way of working is supported by Microsoft.
Just one last thing, you may have some error message during your export/import/modification operation as the ForeFront Identity Manager Synchronization service is stopped. This is normal as this service is stopping himself if not used.