What to backup on a Domain Controller?

[mespe]

Hello all:

I have my backups working fine, we use ARcserve2000 in a win 2k environment, we have several servers: 2 domain controllers, a file server, an exchange server, and some memeber servers for dhcp, print server and so on. So, now I am wondering, am I backing up the right stuff? (sure, there are some files that I know I MUST backup, like data, but as for functionality I am not sure)

For example, I was told I should backup the NTDS folder in a Domain Controller, since it holds the Active Directory.
Should I use the win2k agent for backing up the Domain Controllers?

So, my question is about the stuff that it has to be backed up. I thank in advance any help.

 

[davidmichel]

Why not just backup the whole system?
If you select the whole C: drive then you get Active Directory, Registry, and data.

In general it is better to backup whole drives. Doing selective backups has the disadvantage of producing a warning when a selected file or directory is no longer there, and of potentially not backing up new files and directories.

 

[mohamdr]

If you want to backup the active directory inf then you should backup the system state it contains all system info including the active directory.

 

[speshalyst]

HI,

If you are backing up remote machine...

YOU MUST USE THE CLIENT AGENT FOR WINDOWS.

You need to backup the system state and the C:\ of all these servers other than you data volumes.

Backing up just the C:\ drive does not help as the Windows protection technology prevents certain system files from being backed as "flat files"

these however, will be backed when the System State is being backed up


cheers
Speshalyst

So it Shall be Written!
So it Shall be Done!!