I don't image servers. But that's just a personal preference. You can do the exact same thing without imaging - rebuild from CD (takes me about 1-2 hours including patching), then dcpromo it.
The only time you should need to go back to a backup is for a DF[1] restore, so having an image of the box isn't necessary. Roger -------------------------------------------------------------- Roger D. Seielstad - MTS MCSE MS-MVP Sr. Systems Administrator Inovis Inc. [1] Dumb Fsck Restore > -----Original Message----- > From: Douglas M. Long [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 4:28 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Active Directory > > > Doesnt anyone have backup DCs? I may be way off, but it seems > as though a > machine going down shouldnt really affect you that much if > you have a backup > DC. In which case, backup isnt even really that important. > Although I do > backup, I dont get too worried if a backup fails for a night or two. I > posted this on an earlier post (may have been what this one > stemmed from), > but thought I would post it again, as it IS a good cheap > solution that works > really well. And if you dont know linux, it doesnt matter (it > is just a > linux based floppy), the only commmands you use are ftp commands > > > > > If you want some good free imaging software. Try this out > http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ . It is a linux based boot floppy > that uploads an > image or your HD to an FTP server. I use it all the time. It > works on any OS > you can get the boot disk to work on. Just make sure you do follow the > "Reducing the image size" directions, as it will cut the > image size down > DRAMATICALLY. > > I dont know if you have seen any of them, but there are now a couple > affordable (around $300) NAS products out there that have a > NAT firewall, > FTP server, etc. built-in. This would be a great compliment > to using the > linux imaging disk, and would be accessable on the network if > your server > totally blows up. Just stick the image disk in, point it to > the NAS, which > is running a FTP sever, and let it restore it for you. > > > Backup Process > 1. Image your server with all patches, programs, and service > packs on it. > 2. Run nightly backup of "data only," with Windows backup utility. > 3. FTP the backup to your NAS FTP server with a batch > 4. Done > > Restore Process > 1. Image machine from NAS FTP server backdown to hardware > with linux floppy > 2. FTP latest "data backup" from NAS FTP server to the server > image you just > restored > 3. Run "Restore" on the backup file. > 4. Done > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of > Rimmerman, Russ > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 4:04 PM > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Active Directory > > > > Whew I lucked out. We have 6700 users and it came to 593MB > so it'll fit! > Now, is there any tricks I should know about restoring this > system state > data? Just boot into DSRestore and run NTBackup and restore > it? Easy as > pie? > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Roger Seielstad > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 2:44 PM > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Active Directory > > > Mine would fit fine - it backs up (not compressed) to just > under 300MB. > > Then again, I've got ~500 user objects, and twice that many computer > objects. And the ADC isn't turned on yet... > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > Roger D. Seielstad - MTS MCSE MS-MVP > Sr. Systems Administrator > Inovis Inc. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Ken Cornetet [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 3:02 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Active Directory > > > > > > I doubt any domain controller's backup would fit on a CDROM. > > I might fit > > if you zip or gzip it before burning. Would a USB external > drive be an > > option? > > > > Would this work for you? > > > > 1. Install OS on your target recovery test server. Keep it as a > > workgroup server, don't add to domain. Do this build in your current > > physical location. > > > > 2. Do NTBackup of your DC to a share on the target server. > > > > 3. Take target test server offsite and do the restore from the file. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > > Rimmerman, Russ > > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 2:33 PM > > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Active Directory > > > > > > > > If you're going to do disaster recovery testing and rebuilding your > > domain off-site and the off-site location doesn't have a compatible > > tape drive, what's the best way to get your domain rebuilt? We use > > BackupExec normally, but in this case I am guessing you > > could just use > > NTBackup and could you back it up to a CD? Then do your > authoritative > > restore, so you don't have to worry about tapes? > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Ken Cornetet > > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 1:27 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Active Directory > > > > > > For a small site (no more than a few servers) NTBackup is plenty > > adequate. Schedule NTBackup to run nightly and back up to a > > workstation's hard disk via a share (assuming you have a workstation > > with a large enough drive[1]). > > > > If you want to get fancy, you can write a batch file to drive > > NTBackup, > > grep through the log file for errors, and email a report. I > > can give you > > an example script if you like. > > > > [1] Staples has a 120GB IDE drive for $60 after rebate. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jake Connor > > Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 2:10 PM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: [ActiveDir] Active Directory > > > > > > I need some real good articles that tell me step by step how > > to backup > > active directory and RESTORE with software to another drive or > > something because I almost had a crash right now and company is too > > cheap to invest in a reliable backup solution or consulting :-\ > > > > Please help! > > > > Thanks > > > > - Jake > > > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > > List archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ > > > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > > List archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > This e-mail is confidential, may contain proprietary > > information of the > > Cooper Cameron Corporation and its operating Divisions and may be > > confidential or privileged. > > > > This e-mail should be read, copied, disseminated and/or used > > only by the > > addressee. If you have received this message in error please > > delete it, > > together with any attachments, from your system. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > > List archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ > > > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > > List archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%> 40mail.activedir.org/ > > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > List archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%> 40mail.activedir.org/ > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > This e-mail is confidential, may contain proprietary information > of the Cooper Cameron Corporation and its operating Divisions > and may be confidential or privileged. > > This e-mail should be read, copied, disseminated and/or used only > by the addressee. If you have received this message in error please > delete it, together with any attachments, from your system. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > List archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%> 40mail.activedir.org/ > > > List info : > http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm > List archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%> 40mail.activedir.org/ > List info : http://www.activedir.org/mail_list.htm List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/list_faq.htm List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/
