Perform disaster recovery of AD as a test scenario

Hi guys,

Currently, my BE server is installed in a Win2012 server and my AD is installed in a Win2008 server, the full backup is already done.

As a disaster recovery scenario, the customer has requested to "test" the backup by doing an AD disaster recovery simulating a complete failure of the AD (obviously the original AD would be online)

Does anyone have performed this procedure while the AD is still online?  Any suggestions about this?

Another question, will the SDR disk be compatible if the BE server is 2012 and the AD is 2008?