Database Import/Export

A tool familiar to many LCS, OCS, and Lync Server 2010 administrators is the database import/export tool called dmbimpexp.exe. This tool enables administrators to import or export user contact lists using XML files. Typically a SQL server backup captures the rtc database that contains the user contact lists, but having the XML version available can be useful when restoring from a backup that is slow or unavailable.

Starting with Lync Server 2013, this tool has been removed and replaced with a series of native cmdlets providing similar functionality. The Export-CsUserData, Import-CsUserData, Update-CsUserData, and Convert-CsUserData cmdlets provide these same features and offer a solution native to the Lync Server Management Shell.

There are many options when running dbimpexp, but the basic functionality is fairly straightforward. For a full list of the options available, see the dbimpexp-readme.html file included in the same folder as the executable.

To export all user contact lists from an Enterprise or Standard Edition pool, the same syntax can now be used:

Export-CsUserData -PoolFQDN "<Pool FQDN>" -FileName "<Path and Filename>.zip"

After the contact lists are exported to XML and safe, they can be applied back to the users at any time. A scheduled task can easily perform this action on a nightly or weekly basis. Importing the contact lists is just as simple as the export procedure. By default, the contents of the XML file are merged with a user’s existing contacts, but the /delete option can be used to empty the contact list before an import is performed.

To import all user contact lists from an Enterprise or Standard Edition pool, use the following syntax:

Import-CsUserData -PoolFQDN "<Pool FQDN>" -FileName "<Path and Filename>.zip"

These cmdlets are very powerful tools and can have a visible impact on user accounts if used incorrectly, so run some test scenarios before doing these changes in bulk. The export and import procedures can be targeted to only a single user via the -UserFilter parameter.