Maintain Active Directory Part 1

Introduction

The Maintain Active Directory Part 1 module provides you with the instruction and server hardware to develop your hands on skills in the defined topics. This module includes the following exercises:

• Prepare Prerequisites for Windows Server Backup
• Backup System State Data
• Perform Authoritative Restore

Lab Time: It will take approximately 1 hour to complete the exercises in this lab.

Exam Objectives

The following exam objectives are covered in this lab:

• Backup Active Directory and Sysvol
• Perform object and container level recovery
• Perform Active Directory restore

Exercise 1 - Prepare Prerequisites for Windows Server Backup

Windows Server 2016 includes a native backup software useful to ensure fault tolerance of mission-critical business data such as system state, applications and local drives.

In this exercise, you will prepare the requirements to ensure redundancy of Active Directory data by installing an additional domain controller in the existing lab domain called PRACTICELABS.COM, after which you will install Windows Server Backup feature.

Exercise 2 - Backup System State Data

Active Directory Domain Services is backed up collectively as part of system state data. The system state data is collection of Windows system components that are related to each other. When backing up the system data of a Windows computer such as a domain controller, it will include the following components:

• System start-up files - the files required to start Windows
• System registry - database of Windows software, services and hardware settings.
• Class registration data of Component Services - The Component Object Model (COM) - a standard for creating software in client-server environment.
• SYSVOL - a system volume used by AD DS for files shared by domain controllers and other domain member devices. These files include GPOs, scripts and others.
• Active Directory database- AD DS database, checkpoint files, transaction logs and reserved log files.

Exercise 3 - Perform Authoritative Restore

An authoritative restore of the AD DS database is required, when there is a requirement to recover deleted objects such as organizational units or user objects that were removed unintentionally from an Active Directory domain.

This process restores the domain controller from a backup and replicates then overwrites the Active Directory data found in other domain controllers in the network to match the data in the restored domain controller.