Recover Domain Controller

[DDJ]

Our Win2000 domain controller has crashed. This domain controller also
acted as our DNS server and Exchange Server. The hard drive is
unrecoverable and we do not have any backup data (other than the Exchange
Server, which was backed up every night using NT Backup). Our main concern
is to bring the Exchange Server back up to speed, but we understand that
this requires also getting the domain server back up to speed (if we can).

The domain also has a few Win2000 boxes plus a Win2000 Server which was used
as our SQL Server. This other Win2000 server was NOT setup up as a backup
domain controller.

Can anyone tell me if we can recover any of the server data from the second
Win2000 server, even though it was not set up as a domain controller? Any
other advice, KB articles, anything, would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[DDJ]

It looks like we have a backup of the System State from June (in addition to
having an Exchange Server backup). I think this is good. But can someone
kind of guide me through what to do next?

Dan

 

[DDJ]

Was able to restore from backups. Worked like a charm!

Dan

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Was able to restore from backups. Worked like a charm!

Very glad you got it working. I'd make sure you're doing more than just
backing up your Exchange stores in your nightly backups. If you're running
low on tape capacity, invest in a higher-capacity tape drive. I'd back up
*everything* including system state & Exchange stores. Preferably a full
backup nightly if your tape capacity will allow for it.

Also - if you can afford it, stick in another low-end box running w2k server
as an additional DC. This will save you a lot of headaches.