Server Management and Monitoring - MCTS Guide to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration - page 525

Windows boots into DSRM, log on and run Wbadmin to restore from a system state backup or
from a backup that includes all critical volumes. After the restoration, restart the server, and Active
Directory replication updates the DC with any objects changed since the backup was created. If
you have only one DC, any changes to Active Directory since the last backup are lost.
An authoritative restore is necessary when an Active Directory object has been deleted
accidentally. After the restoration, the restored objects are replicated to other domain con-
trollers, instead of other DCs replicating Active Directory information to the restored domain
controller, as with a nonauthoritative restore. An authoritative restore is started the same
way as a nonauthoritative restore. Before you restart the server after the restore, however,
run Ntdsutil to specify which objects are authoritative. You must know these objects' distin-
guished names.

Activity 13-4: Backing Up the System State with Wbadmin

Time Required: 25 minutes or longer
Objective: Back up the system state with Wbadmin.
Description: System state backups run faster and take less space than complete volume backups.
You want to create periodic system state backups separate from your scheduled full backups so
that Active Directory can be restored quickly if necessary. You specify the P volume you created
earlier as the backup target. You must have enough free space on the P volume, so if necessary,
delete the existing backup first.
1. Log on to ServerXX as Administrator, if necessary.
2. Open a command prompt window, type wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:P: ,
and press Enter .
3. You're prompted to start the backup from Local Disk (C:) to P. Type y and press Enter .
4. The backup must first identify all system state files, and you see progress displays as
Wbadmin finds the files. When the files are found, the backup begins. (It might take sev-
eral minutes.) Wbadmin displays progress lines periodically to show the percentage
complete. When the backup is finished, a log of files backed up successfully is created
in the C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup folder. Close the command prompt
window.
5. To view files in the backup, open Windows Explorer and navigate to P:\WindowsImageBackup\
ServerXX . You'll see a folder named SystemStateBackup where the backup you created is
stored. You should also see a folder named Catalog that holds the files composing the cata-
log of backups.
6. Close Windows Explorer, but stay logged on for the next activity.

13

Activity 13-5: Restoring Active Directory
from a System State Backup

Time Required: 25 minutes
Objective: Restore Active Directory from a backup.
Description: You need to test the effectiveness of a system state backup and the capability to
restore Active Directory. On a test DC where you have created a system state backup, you delete
an OU from AD, and then perform an authoritative restore on the deleted object.
1. Log on to ServerXX as Administrator, if necessary.
2. Open Active Directory Users and Computers. Click TestOU and press Delete . When
prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes .
3. The Confirm Subtree Deletion message box opens. Click the Use Delete Subtree server con-
trol check box (see Figure 13-9) so that delete-protected objects can be deleted, and then
click Yes .