Advice needed.

I currently backup two domain controllers (one controlls RID,PDC &
Infrustructure) and the other which is the original Global Catalog server
which holds Schema master and Domain naming master roles.

I back up locally the system state to a flat file (.bkf) and then copy over
the network to a BU server (on tape).
Question: Anything wrong with this scenario?

In the case of a disaster I would rebuild the 'dead' server as a domain
controller (original parameters) and copy the system state over to it then
restore (authoritative) making it the Global again.

Question: Is this the correct way to do this with out using tape drives?
Would it be best to have the global catalog server run RID,PDC &
Infrustructure masters as well. We only run one domain (200 users max).

Thanks in advance.

Steve,

I have provided responses to your specific questions in-line. Here are some
tips and general guidelines:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...f8bc259ff.mspx

http://support.microsoft.com/default.../223346/EN-US/

--
William Hutchison [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"steveb" <steveburch@hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news:42c110a5$1@news.star.co.uk...
Nope, this is okay. No problem so far.

This probably should not be an authoritative restore unless you have only
one domain controller for the domain (in which case, it really is a primary
restore). You only use an authoritative restore when some objects have been
deleted from the AD and you need to recover them. In situations where a DC
was lost due to a crash, you would restore the system state
non-authoritatively and then let replication from the other DCs update the
restored DC. After that, you could make it a Global Catalog again.

The key is whether you have more than one domain controller in your domain.
If you have more than one domain controller then the GC should not be on the
same server as the Infrastructure master. If you have only one domain
controller then it okay to have all the operations master roles on that
single system. Of course, best practice is to have more than one domain
controller for each domain.


Hope this helps. Thanks.

William,

thanks very much for the information!
Another scenarion I need to get my head around:

The only Global catalog server which holds all masters crashes.
I have an image of system state on a CD.

Scenario1) I can bootup the server and after hitting F8 I can select
'Directory Service Restore' from here I could copy the image onto disk and
restore (non authoritive).
Whilst this has crashed, will Exchange and all users carry on working but
experience a slow down in responce?
Scenario2) Global Catalog crashes, I need to reinstall W2k3. After install I
will have to promote this to a domain controller, is this correct? At this
point I have not siezed the FSMO roles onto another server.
Once 'dcpromo' has run, can I then reboot and F8 into the restore the system
state image again bringing the server up to athe Global catalog (then force
a replication).
I guess if I have siezed the FSMO roles I can't restore to its original
state.
Is this correct?
I cannot find suitable documentation on this issue.
Many thanks in advance.

"William Hutchison [MSFT]" <williamh@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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