Windows 2008 AD restore with vmware.

[baja0605]

Hope someone can help me out with this. Currently my DC's are 2008running in VMware.I'm running thorugh a DR test from my office to develop a DR plan. Here's whats going on. All our backup are evaulted so i have a vault from our backup contractor. I ran vmware converter and have an image of AD in my test environment. My thinking behind this was i didn;t need to install an O/S and i could just restore right back to the vm. I ran an authoratative restaore of the DC and get nothing but errors and can't get anuthing to work. The DC i'm recovering doesn;t have all the FSMO roles. The DC imgae i converted runs just fine. I then tried to build a new VM exaclt like the DC and do a recovery to that. Again when i restore and start back up i get nothing i can work with. Can you give some direction on the best way to restore AD. Thanks

 

[TechyMcSe2k]

A System State restore, whether non authoritative or authoritative should work in a VM because all of the hardware is the same. Just make sure your OS and Service Pack is the same and the patch levels are as well.

Interesting document for you:

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Virtualizing_Windows_Active_Directory.pdf

http://www.samtechconsulting.com

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Great knowledge can be obtained by mastering the Google algorithm.

 

[baja0605]

Thanks for the info.. Would you know of a document that gives you some step by step directions on doing this recovery. I've been working on this for a few days now and i'm getting a little frustrated because everytime i restore AD i can't access anything.

 

[kmcferrin]

So you've got two VMs now? One is the converted VM of a physical DC computer, and the other is a backup of a different physical DC that you are trying to restore to a VM? Is that correct?

Have you sorted all of the hardware differences between the physical computer that you are trying to restore and the VM? DCs can be a bit finicky doing physical restores on similar hardware, but when you pull the hardware out from under it and completely replace it with a virtual platform your asking for issues.

Also, be wary of reverting snapshots of DCs. In fact, never take a snapshot of a DC, because if you revert it then you can get all sorts of subtle AD corruption that takes hours and hours and hours to repair. Friends don't let friends snapshot DCs.


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CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator

 

[TechyMcSe2k]

The steps should be:

Take your existing Virtualized DC and do a System State Backup

Then bring up a new VM with the OS to the same level

Then restore the SS in Directory Services Restore mode

Once it reboots it should be the same as the original DC.

Remember, the SS you are using has to be the one you take from the VirtualDC You cannot use the hardware based DC-SS

AD DS Backup and Recovery Step-by-Step Guide

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771290(WS.10).aspx

http://www.samtechconsulting.com

_______________________________________
Great knowledge can be obtained by mastering the Google algorithm.

 

[baja0605]

I know not to take snapshots of DC's. What i did was ran converter against the DC because the drive that AD is on in is a Raw Device Map and you cannot convert a raw device map. The bigger picture here is we are switching DR centers and we are putting some equipment at the center and will run everything virtual. I was a little leary about running converter against the DC but i wanted to have a clone to run some testing and have it at our other location. Thanks for all your help , i really apprecitae it!!!