If you delete drivers and driver sets from Stage 2 in order to deploy the drivers from Stage 1, you can lose the associations.
Don't deploy the Stage 1 objects directly into the Stage 2 environment.
Always use the configuration file, the exported project archive files, and the LDIF files of the Stage 1 setup.
Before moving to any stage, understand the existing stage and the objects that Designer does not automatically bring in (see Objects That Designer Does Not Model) for the next stage.
Ensure that you know which objects are required in the subsequent stages. Consolidate these objects in the LDIF file.
Ensure that you assign the Security Equivalences, Trustees, and Server Certificates of Stage 1 in Stage 2 after deployment.
LDIF files that contain additional objects should be stored locally. You can use Import Convert Export (ICE) utility to deploy these objects in any stage.
For a new deployment in Stage 2, ensure that LDIF objects are deployed before importing the configuration file or the project file.
For an existing deployment in Stage 2, ensure that you compare the existing project with the Stage 1 configuration, deploy the necessary LDIF objects, then import the configuration file.
Ensure that objects are up-to-date when you import them into the LDIF file.
Always import the additional objects into Stage 1 before moving to Stage 2.
Export the additional objects of Stage 1 into an LDIF file before moving to Stage 2 so that these objects can be manually created in Stage 2 before deployment.