Copying Active directory?

[jrice]

Hello all, I must warn you now I'm a newb, so if my questions seem
dumb, give me a break.....

I am setting up a distaster recovery solution which I am going to keep
outside of my production enviroment. My production Active Directory
has 3 Domain controllers and 1 exchange server. I have only been
given 3 servers total to use for the DR solution, which are newer and
completely different hardware then the production servers. SO here is
the big question.... How can I take my backups of active directory
and exchange and put them on the DR servers so that they work
correctly? I would like to avoid creating a new domain and copying
objects one by one. Should I name the Machines the same, and try to
restore that way? I realize that this is a very open-ended question,
and basically I'm looking for any sort of suggestions to at least
point me in the right direction.

Thanks

 

[Paul Bergson [MVP-DS]]

Try looking over an article I have on creating a test domain. It doesn't
include exchange but it will get you your AD domain.

http://www.pbbergs.com
Select articles and click on Create A Test AD Domain

Since you only have three servers you should look at using Virtual Services.
I think you could restore your Exchange server to a virtual server direct
from the backup of your production server. It would be worth a try and
Server 2005 R2 is free and it works very well in an environment such as what
you are looking for.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx


--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCT, MCSE, MCSA, Security+, BS CSci
2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[jrice]

Virtualization is a good alternative, and I have considered it. Does
Server 2005 R2 have any sort of trial period? This is for a Disaster
Recovery solution, so I have to have something that is rock solid.
Using an R2 version from Microsoft doesn't exactly make me think
"trouble free".

 

[Paul Bergson [MVP-DS]]

Trial Period? It is free.

If you are looking to use it for production in a disaster scenario then I
misunderstood. I thought you were looking to test a disaster scenario. I
wouldn't use an Exchange server in a virtual world for production.

--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCT, MCSE, MCSA, Security+, BS CSci
2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Brandon McCombs]

Virtualization is a good alternative, and I have considered it. Does
Server 2005 R2 have any sort of trial period? This is for a Disaster
Recovery solution, so I have to have something that is rock solid.
Using an R2 version from Microsoft doesn't exactly make me think
"trouble free".

What is wrong with R2? Windows Server 2003 R2 is production ready so why
wouldn't Virtual Server 2005 R2 be? For example, Windows Server 2003 R2
is basically R1 with some additional things added to it, sort of like
going from Mac OSX 10.0 to 10.1. It includes builtin support for
Services for Unix and contains code for ADS Federated Services. It also
incorporates SP1.

To answer your original question, what is wrong with setting up your new
servers so that they are part of the same domain as your original site's
domain and configure them as their own site (create replication links,
etc.)? When changes are made to you original site they will
automatically get replicated to the DR domain controllers (this is all
through basic LDAP features, not anything that ADS gives you). Of
course, the initial replication could take a while depending on your WAN
links and the amount of data that needs to be replicated but it will
sync up for you eventually. As far as Exchange is concerned I'm not
sure about that.

Someone more qualified to speak to this can chime in. I'd be interested
to know how close I am to a viable solution (I may have to do something
like this at work in the next couple years).


Brandon