restore a DC

[peterve]

Hi,

Suppose I only have 1 DC; and I have a bkf file on tape
(with System State, C:\Windows and D:\)
Drive D: has the AD database
The AD Logfiles are stored on drive E:, and are not part of the backup selections.


What would be the steps to restore this DC on other hardware, in case of failure of the running DC ?

thanks

--------------------------------------------------------------------
How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[markdmac]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/241594/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840674/en-us

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[peterve]

I'm not sure if that is enough info - let's see :

1. I install Windows 2003 on the new hardware (fresh installation, similar disk structure)
At this point, this is just a standalone server.

Can I now boot into restore mode ? Or is that an option that is available only to machines that are already a DC ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------
How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[markdmac]

Your best solution is to use an ASR backup for total disaster recovery.

AD Restore mode is for DCs.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

 

[peterve]

I don't want to use ASR

I only have the backupfile





--------------------------------------------------------------------
How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[pagy]

Your initial post suggested this was a theoretical question but your last post "I only have the backupfile" suggests otherwise.

If this is a theoretical question ASR is the best way to go

http://www.backupassist.com/downloads/BareMetalASR.pdf

Or do you actually have a dead DC and a bkf file from that DC??

If so this may give you an idea

http://www.petri.co.il/forums/showthread.php?t=4797

Paul

MCSE 2003

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

 

[peterve]

no - it is a theoretical question- but the answer 'do it differently' is not a valid answer, so I made it sound like it's a real-life scenario

so : is this a good scenario ?

1. Set up new Win2003
2. Restore the bkf file to an alternate location
2. Boot into restore mode
3. Backup hal
4. Restore from alternate location
5. Put hal back
6. Reboot

Has anyone tried this yet ?



--------------------------------------------------------------------
How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[pagy]

I think Mark's suggestion was perfectly valid to be honest, but from the link I provided above;

Take regular backups of your DC's system state.
Restore the backup to an alternate location.
From a newly built server with same OS and patch level,
run DCPromo with the /adv switch and specify the alternate location folder.
DCPromo will promote a new DC using the restored system state information.

That should do what you are looking for, the above method is hardware independent so no need to mess with HALs.


Paul

MCSE 2003

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

 

[peterve]

ok, thanks

I'll give that a try in a test environment

--------------------------------------------------------------------
How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?
---------------------------------------------------------------------