Re: How to use Windows Backup?!!

AD is only backed up as part of the system state, and as such, the system must be in the *same* state.

As others have said, that means the same service pack...same drivers (the stock drivers *will not do* if you installed updated drivers before the crash) and, in many cases, the same hotfixes. If you are using WSUS to push patches out to your machines (even the server itself) then you stand a much better chance of getting the machine back to the same service pack and hotfix level...because you have a database with previously approved patches. :)

In addition, however, any system-level programs can also cause your system state to become unstable. AV products are particularly notorious for this. You restore the system state which restores dll's that hook into the system, but the dll's try to access other com objects that were installed elsewhere...the dll's fail because the program wasn't installed...and boom. Reboot cycle. So you have to track the exact patch level of any AV, firewall, spam, etc as well ...or at least *know* how they tie into your system. And this isn't just for windows backup....this is overall good practice for anybody responsible for a server. If you don't know what a product is doing to your system, you probably shouldn't be running it.

With that said, if you are backing up system state *and* the "program files" directory and doing a bulk restore, you will usually be fine. What I most commonly see is people backing up the system state for AD, but excluding the program files with the logic that "I can just re-install programs." But...that can cause dll mismatches and you end up with an unstable system.

Any help there?

-Cliff


"Jose Ydrach" <JoseYdrach@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:3E0CA4CC-D9FB-4928-98F2-58B7652C0A6F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I replaced a failed hdd. Resintalled the server as it was before, same sp
level and everything but got those errors. What i would like to know, is
there anything special i need to check in nt backup to make sure those
backups more trustworthy?


"Jim Behning SBS MVP" wrote:

I blew up a raid config on a server a few months ago. I installed the
OS from scratch and got it to the correct service pack. I formatted
the other partitions I had on the old raid array. I started in
Directory Service Restore Mode. I ran the restore and all was good.
Yes I restored without incident from a good SBS backup. Note that I
want to always see backup completed successfully in my daily report.
Just about impossible to do a server restore if the backup is noted as
failed. Other SBS users have reported complete success with restores
from their SBS backups.

Note if you changed actual hardware you might have to run a repair.
What hardware did you replace?

On Tue, 2 Sep 2008 14:24:01 -0700, Jose Ydrach
<JoseYdrach@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>I've been using the MS built-in backup system ever since we started >using
>SBS2003 (almost 4 months). All the time the backup finished successfully >and
>last night when i had to use them for the first time none of them >worked.
>
>Can someone shed some light on this matter.
>
>Backups are performed to USB HDD's, space is never a problem. But to >make
>it short, what is the exact procedure to restore AD if a server fails to >boot
>for hdd failures with SBS2003.
>
>Here's what i did...
>
>Reinstalled the server replacing the failed hardware, installing it >exactly
>as the last configuration it had. After installing everything, i >rebooted
>into Safe Mode Directory Services Restore Mode, and applied my restore. >But
>all the time that i tried the same procedure i ended up with an unstable
>server; either an endless rebooting loop, mentioning that AD Services >are
>corrupt or simply by freezing itself and not letting me do anything.
>Thankfully our AD is small in my SBS but i had to rebuild everything >from
>scratch, luckyly I was able to restore some emails, with another >procedure.
>
>But really what are you pro's using to feel safe when talking about >backup
>needs? Budget is a problem so im trying to first tweak with nt backup >before
>jumping to any other solutions. But if there is no other way around it, >i'll
>end up buying it.
See what SBS support is working on
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/default.aspx
Check your SBS with the SBS Best Practices Analyzer
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/tags/BPA/default.aspx

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Thoughts - bare metal disaster recovery
    ... getting corruption on restore. ... Les Connor [SBS Community Member - SBS MVP] ... Backup is essential, image is nice. ... The server is still up, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Tape restore - problem
    ... Checking out Yosemite web site - they have quite a few products, ... The backup/restore document for SBS is written for SBSbackup/ntbackup - it ... as is for another backup application. ... Its restore process is actually much easier. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: Domain Controller cannot boot up after restoring the system st
    ... Moving hardware, or changing hardware, or restoring to new hardware ... Just apply it once, and as long as you backup the whole C: drive, and a System State backup, any backup that you try to restore C: drive and the System State, you can restore it to something different and it should boot. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)
  • Re: SBS Backup and RSM
    ... change creates uncertanties the day you have to do a full restore. ... I would use the NT backup information store backup, ... I greatly exceed the min requirements for SBS with both these ... tape drives all over the place and I don't have this problem with any ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: SBS two adapter setup with Netopia Router. Help Save my weeked
    ... > posting to the SBS Newsgroup. ... > When you click OK on this message, the server restarts. ... > are not able to start the server or restore the system state from backup. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
Loading