IDR-When to add to a domain

[techincal_suppo]

My Windows 2000 Server boot mirror array crashed on Monday. I had to format the array and attempt an IDR. I was able to get the system working again, but IDR did not put everything back together as I thought it would. Some things are just missing (like BE).

It seems that part of the problem is that after the IDR, I had to manually add the system back to the domain. I can't find anything in the manual about when/how to add a system back to the domain. To top it off, the system was one of two domain controllers.

I'm thinking of wiping the array again, going through IDR to the point where you log in as the local admin, then add it to the domain before continuing with the software restore to see if it does any better.

Are there any docs on this? The "step by step guide to IDR" that I found on this site says nothing about getting back into a domain, or domain controllers. Any info would be great.

Thanks!

[Ken_Putnam]

I've never used IDR, but as I understand it, you CANNOT have the dead machine in a Domain when the restore is done, and after the restore, the machine should be back in whatever Domain it was in when the backup was done

This is just one of the reasons that I've never purchased IDR. it may take slightly longer to do a Manual Disaster Recovery, but at least you know what you have and have not done, and how to fix whatever doesn't work right the first time

[Gerhard_Goebel_]

At least I can confirm that IDR works just fine, even if your system is a domain controller.

I recently upgraded my server to bigger and faster disks. I had 2 arrays, 1 for the operating system and applications the 2nd just for data.

You should have a current version of IDR and of course your backups.

The "secret" is that if you need to do a restore of a domain controller you have to restore everything, and most importantly your system state, by starting your server in safe mode with Directory Services Restore Mode selected (see the Admin Guide page 350 second bullet).

In my case my server was not only the domain controller, but also had an MS Exchange 2000, SQL Server 2000 and 2 IIS servers loaded. Plus I used it as my DNS server as well.

My first restore ended just like your with not much working. I dug through KB articles and the Admin Guide until I found that small section (which you easily can overlook).

After I found that my IDR recovery was fairly painless and my server was up and running withing several hours (this depends pretty much on the amount of data you need to restore and on the speed of your drive).

One thing that is important (especially if your server is a DM) is that your backup was done using OFO to ensure you have ALL files (including the ones that were open when you took your backup).