Active Directory (AD) is a directory service that runs on Windows server operating system. AD allows administrators to manage permissions and control network access. AD consists of several objects like Users, Groups, devices, and applications.
For a network administrator, protecting Active Directory is one of the most important tasks. Incidents such as ransomware attacks, system corruption, accidental deletion of an Active Directory component (e.g. User, Organizational Unit, Computer, printer, or a file share), or a complete server disaster can affect the business continuity. To maintain an uninterrupted network service, backing up the Active Directory server is of utmost importance.
Several companies were affected by the NotPetya ransomware in 2018, and one of the companies faced losses up to $300 million. The master boot records of the Active Directory server were affected, making it unusable and unrecoverable.
Backup Exec offers some of the best features for backup and restore of an Active Directory server.
How to protect your active directory using Backup Exec:
Restoring individual objects in Active Directory:
After a successful backup of the system state, you can now restore a single object in Active Directory. This feature is useful when there is an accidental deletion of individual object(s) from ‘Active directory users and groups.’
Note: After the user is restored, you need to reset the password and enable the account.
Disaster Recovery of an Active Directory server:
Disaster Recovery of Active Directory server is required in the below scenarios,
Note: In case you have more than one domain controller, you may need to run Ntdsutil.exe
MS reference for Ntdsutil.exe - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/cc...
This covers most of the backup and recovery scenarios for Active Directory required by an administrator.
Further Reading
For more information on this topic, check out our online copy of the Backup Exec 21 Administrator's Guide.
Get More Help
If you are facing a problem with Backup Exec and looking for assistance, you can contact Veritas Technical Support for Backup Exec, or join the conversation on the VOX BE Community.
If you wish to try Backup Exec free in your environment, please visit https://www.veritas.com/form/trialware/backup-exec.
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