Thanks to everyone who has responded to this. Some great suggestions and
founts of knowledge

Jonny

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Glen Miller
> Sent: 18 March 2005 15:52
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Continuity planning and AD
> 
> 
> Most back up software have a disaster recover built in.  In 
> that you can 
> build recovery CD from tapes (OS Speaking).  There are 
> variation on this 
> theme 
> 
> For example.  backup exec has this feature however it 
> requires that you 
> RECREATE the cd after every change to a server.  It cannot be 
> built from a 
> tape,  Thus you must keep an up to date recovery CD.  this is 
> the fastest 
> recover method although if your CD are not up to date your 
> back to square 
> one.  The typical trade off between efficiency and 
> manageability.   The Cd 
> should be boot able. 
> 
> Retrospect software.   Allows you to do this from tape 
> eliminating the need 
> to have up-to-date recovery CD's.  I'm still demoing this 
> software.  It has 
> lived up to it's claims although if your not familiar with 
> its process.  it 
> is convoluted and very order dependent.  one misstep and square one.  
> Coolness about this is you can Boot from tape.  well first 
> the CD but it 
> attaches easily to the tape drives for expedited recovery times.  
> 
> As anyone who has done disaster recovery implementation 
> knows.  There is 
> truly no one solution to this issue.  once you step from the realm of 
> indifferent hardware.  The beast changes shape.  Windows is typically 
> forgiving when it encounters dissimilar hardware in that if 
> it has access to 
> the I386 Director all should turn out fine.   this hold water 
> as long as the 
> Processors are within the same family.  try doing this from a 
> ZEON to a 
> Itanium or pentium and you blue screen at start up and have 
> had little luck 
> running the recovery.  I believe this is tied to the NTLDR file.  
> 
> When considering a palatable DR strategy.  Its not just " is 
> the data safe 
> and recoverable".  But in what time frame can this be 
> completed.  If it 
> takes a week to get back  up.  Thats a disaster.  Giving a 
> typical turn 
> around time of 24 hours can this accomplished using above 
> methods.  To a 
> degree'  based on size of company total data load and blah 
> blah blah.  
> 
> What im getting to is this.  it may be easier cheaper faster. 
>  to replicate 
> data real time. Identify critical systems replicate hardware. 
>  and do real 
> time replication across say dedicate T1 to your offsite DR.  
> up to the 
> minuet and available immediately.   Windows handled this through DCOM 
> however i have heard that was replaced by clustering service 
> new to 2003.  
> Very expensive 
> 
> i have a payroll system.  which handle several tens of 
> thousand checks to 
> people every week.  I replicate all changed data in real 
> time.  If we were to 
> lose our Internet connection.  the software through the 
> Dedicated T1 drops 
> the change queue to the Off site system then once that is 
> complete initiates 
> the RAS services.  The client has a heart beat built in in 
> that if after 7 
> minuets it cannot reach the primary RAS server.  It then queries the 
> secondary address.  this is completely transparent to the 
> user with the 
> exception that everything "PAUSED" for the allocated time.  
> once back up the 
> reverse happens in that it coordinates the transition per 
> client as the new 
> queue request are handled from the DR server and migrated back to the 
> Primary system.  Complete invisible to user as long as an 
> outage does not 
> occur again.  
>  
> 
> Sorry so long winded.  DR was a serious and still is to a 
> degree a thorn in 
> an IT person side.  Just remember the ROSE it is attached to. 
>  If ever you 
> need it.  Nothing like looking exceptional to the CEO CFO and 
> all the other 
> people ho have that alphabet in their names.  
>  
> I hoped this helped I realize it doesn't address the step by 
> step request.  
> the only way you'll get that is to develope and repeat the 
> process till it 
> work 4 out of 5 times.  then you can sleep with only one eye open 
> 
> 
> Glen Miller 
> Payflex System USA, Inc. 
> Desktop management 
> Evolution Administration
> 402 231 8666
> 402 231 4357 
> 402 650 2949 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Carerros, Charles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]>
> Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 07:45:33 -0600
> Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Continuity planning and AD
> 
> > My organization just moved to a W2K3 AD and we have one of 
> our offsite 
> > DR tests coming up.  I was wondering if someone wouldn't 
> mind sharing 
> > any step
> > by step documentation that you have generated to perform 
> this restore
> > (basically so I don't have to go and draft one from scratch)?
> > 
> > If not, is there any other interesting tid-bits that we 
> need to know.
> > (I
> > will probably end up restoring two Domain Controllers, one for the
> > Forest
> > and one for my domain during this test plan) so any and all 
> help will
> > be
> > nice.
> > 
> > Thanks.
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Hunter, Laura E. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 6:23 AM
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] Continuity planning and AD
> > 
> > 
> > I run into this a lot; we go to Sungard twice a year to do 
> DR testing 
> > and we never -ever- get identical hardware. It becomes a 
> voodoo dance 
> > of running a repair, occasionally doing an in-place upgrade, and 
> > getting rid of now-extinct metadata and replication entries with 
> > ntdsutil and repadmin.
> > 
> > FWIW, it works better on 2003 than 2000, since sometimes the TCP/IP 
> > stack gets hosed and it's easier to delete/recreate in 2003 
> than 2000 
> > - it's a 3-step KB article instead of a 3 -page- one.
> > 
> > Laura
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of 
> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 5:37 AM
> > > To: [email protected]
> > > Cc: [email protected]; 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] Continuity planning and AD
> > > 
> > > Hi Johnny
> > > 
> > > In theory, you should be able to do your restore to the
> > > different hardware, and then boot to the CD, choose setup, 
> > > and choose repair existing version of Windows to redetect all 
> > > hardware.  I am not sure this is supported but we were able 
> > > to do it in our forest recovery test with no real problems 
> > > besides time time time and more time.
> > > 
> > > Make sure you test the solution well before deciding that an
> > > identical box is not the answer.
> > > 
> > > Regards;
> > > 
> > > James R. Day
> > > Active Directory Core Team
> > > Office of the Chief Information Officer
> > > National Park Service
> > > (202) 354-1464 (direct)
> > > (202) 371-1549 (fax)
> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > 
> > > 
> > >                                                               
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                       "jonny"                                 
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                       <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>           To:      
> > >  <[email protected]>                               
> > >                  
> > >                       Sent by:                       cc:      
> > >  (bcc: James Day/Contractor/NPS)                              
> > >                  
> > >                       [EMAIL PROTECTED]        Subject: 
> > >  [ActiveDir] Continuity planning and AD                       
> > >                  
> > >                       tivedir.org                             
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                                                               
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                                                               
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                       03/18/2005 10:03 AM GMT                 
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                       Please respond to                       
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                       ActiveDir                               
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > >                                                               
> > >                                                               
> > >                  
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Dear All
> > > 
> > > I am a bit of AD newbie so I am not even sure if this is an
> > > AD issue; so apologies in advance.
> > > 
> > > Anyway, we have a disaster recovery server which we plan to
> > > store off site.
> > > This will be switched off while in storage. Our live server 
> > > is a Windows 2000 server running AD. The backup software is 
> > > Veritas Backup Exec. We do not use one button recovery.
> > > 
> > > The plan is this at the moment: when our server cathes fire,
> > > is flooded or stolen, we take a recent tape from off site 
> > > with all our data and another tape with our 'system' and 
> > > restore. Well that was easy!!
> > > 
> > > Well aside from many likely problems this I the one I want to
> > > ask about
> > > here:
> > > 
> > > The system tape is derived from a Veritas backup called
> > > System backup. I believe this backs up all the registry 
> > > settings and I assume the user databse, the DNS, DHCP setting 
> > > and other services settings also. The recovery server is not 
> > > a hardware duplicate of the live server, but it does run 
> > > Windows 2000 server and Veritas.
> > > 
> > > Question: I have been told a systemn restore will result in
> > > the recovery server crashing as it is not a hardware 
> > > duplicate. How do I backup (and
> > > restore) all the software and operating system settings and 
> > > the AD settings without requiring a hardware duplicate? Can 
> > > anyone point to resources that state how to do this and what 
> > > to be aware of?
> > > 
> > > Many thanks for any help on this
> > > 
> > > Jonny
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _________________________
> > > Jonathan Feldman
> > > ICT Manager
> > > NACVS
> > > 177 Arundel Street
> > > Sheffield, S1 2NU
> > > 
> > > Tel:                     0114 278 6636
> > > Fax:                     0114 278 7004
> > > Textphone:         0114 278 7025
> > > Email:             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Web:                     http://www.nacvs.org.uk
> > > ______________________________
> > > 
> > > Registered charity no. 1001635
> > > Registered company no. 2575306
> > > Registered office as above
> > > -------------------------------
> > > 
> > > Dates for your diary
> > > ===================
> > > 
> > > Chief Officers' Residential Event 2005
> > > Royal Court Hotel, Coventry
> > > 6-7 April
> > > 
> > > http://www.nacvs.org.uk/nacvs/events/core/index.shtm
> > > 
> > > If you take my advice...getting HR support right Age Concern,
> > > Birmingham 21st March
> > > 
> > > http://www.nacvs.org.uk/nacvs/events/hr/index.shtm
> > > 
> > > Local Public Service Agreements: engaging communities Novotel
> > > Birmingham Centre
> > > 19 May 2005
> > > http://www.nacvs.org.uk/nacvs/events/lpsa
> > > 
> > > 
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