Table of Contents

Overview

Comprehensive guide to backing up and restoring Active Directory Domain Services components and data.

Active Directory backup and restore operations are critical for disaster recovery and business continuity. This guide covers:

  • System State backups for domain controllers
  • SYSVOL backup and replication
  • Database backup procedures
  • Forest and domain recovery scenarios
  • Best practices for backup scheduling

Backup Procedures

System State Backup

System State backups include all critical AD components:

  • Active Directory database (NTDS.DIT)
  • Registry settings
  • System files
  • SYSVOL folder contents

Backup Commands

Using Windows Server Backup:

# Create system state backup
wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:D:\Backups

Automated Backup Scheduling

Configure regular automated backups using Task Scheduler or Group Policy.

Restore Procedures

Non-Authoritative Restore

Standard restore when AD database corruption occurs:

  1. Boot into Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM)
  2. Restore system state from backup
  3. Restart in normal mode

Authoritative Restore

When specific objects need to be restored and replicated:

  1. Perform non-authoritative restore
  2. Use ntdsutil for authoritative restore
  3. Restart replication services

Recovery Scenarios

Single Domain Controller Recovery

  • Restore from system state backup
  • Verify replication health

Multiple Domain Controller Loss

  • Forest recovery procedures
  • SYSVOL restoration
  • Global catalog rebuilding
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