As companies move from piloting Lync to a full-blown implementation you’ll likely end up in a scenario where you need to move the Central Management Store (CMS) from a proof-of-concept pool to a production-worthy one.

This is hopefully a no-brainer, but first you should back up the CMS. Keep in mind that in order to restore the CMS you also need the LIS database, so export both of these.

Export-CsConfiguration –FileName config.zip
Export-CsLisConfiguration –FileName lis.zip

Next, you need to install an empty database to house the new CMS. I typically use the –UseDefaultSQLPaths parameter to control where these databases are installed on the file system. You can also use the -DatabasePaths parameter for more control.

Install-CsDatabase –CentralManagementStore –UseDefaultSQLPaths –SQLServerFQDN <SQL Server FQDN>

Next, enable this topology change:

Enable-CsTopology

Verify all of your replicas are up to date before actually moving the CMS. When ready, log on to a Front-End server for the target pool hosting the CMS (Technet says the source, but this is incorrect. I’ve added a comment there as well). You’ll need to open the Lync Management Shell with elevated privileges (Right-click, Run as Administrator) or the next step will fail.

Move-CsManagementServer

You’ll be prompted to confirm the source and destination. Press Y to accept the move and hopefully it succeeds!

I had to restart both the Master Replica Service and File-Transfer Agent service on the Front-End I used to move the CMS to clear up errors in the event log that it could not connect to the back-end database. Once done, very your replica status is all up to date again.

After the move you need to clean up a few things. You’ll want to launch the setup wizard and run the “Install or Update Lync Server System” step for any Front-End server which was part of the old pool, and for any Front-End server which is part of the new pool. This step adds or removes the required services for a Front-End to serve as a CMS master replica.