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What does each user and group object has which must be unique across an entire active directory domain?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
objectGUID property
unique security identifiers (SIDS)
Each object represents a single entity-whether a user, a computer, a printer, or a group-and its attributes. Certain objects can contain other objects. An object is uniquely identified by its name and has a set of attributes-the characteristics and information that the object represents- defined by a schema, which also determines the kinds of objects that can be stored in Active Directory.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agobut will change if an object is moved from one domain to another?
The Answer is SID (security identifier) and DN (distinguished name) are what can change when a object is moved to another domain.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoWiki User
∙ 12y agoSAM account name. pg. 118 of Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration 70-640
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What naming contexts are replicated across an entire active directory forest?
Active Directory NC (Naming Context's)Active Directory consists of three partitions or naming contexts (NC) Domain, Configuration and Schema Naming ContextsEach are replicated independentlyAn Active Directory forest has single schema and configuration Every domain controller (DC) holds a copy of each (schema, configuration NC's)Forest can have multiple domains Every domain controller in a domain holds a copy of the domain NC
Which naming context are replicated across an entire Active Directory forest?
The Schema and Configuration partition
What are directory partitions?
Configuration Contains the Configuration container, which stores configuration objects for the entire forest in cn=configuration,dc= forestRootDomain . Updates to this container are replicated to all domain controllers in the forest. Configuration objects store information about sites, services, and directory partitions. You can view the contents of the Configuration container by using ADSI Edit.Schema Contains the Schema container, which stores class and attribute definitions for all existing and possible Active Directory objects in cn=schema,cn=configuration,dc= forestRootDomain . Updates to this container are replicated to all domain controllers in the forest. You can view the contents of the Schema container in the Active Directory Schema console.Domain Contains a < domain > container (for example, the abc.com container), which stores users, computers, groups, and other objects for a specific Windows 2000 domain (for example, the abc.com domain). Updates to the < domain> container are replicated to only domain controllers within the domain and to Global Catalog servers if the update is made to an attribute that is marked for replication to the Global Catalog. The < domain > container is displayed in the Active Directory Users and Computers console. The hierarchy of domain directory partitions can be viewed in the Active Directory Domains and Trusts console, where trust relationships between domains can be managed.Each directory partition is a contiguous portion of the directory tree, and each one starts at a single point (the directory partition head ) and spreads to either leaf nodes (for the schema and configuration directory partitions) or to the heads of other directory partitions below it (for domain directory partitions). Each directory partition, therefore, has exactly one directory partition immediately above it in the tree (except for a tree root domain directory partition, which has only the rootDSE above it) and possibly more directory partitions immediately below it
What are ad partition?
Active Directory data is logically partitioned so that each domain controller does not store all objects in the directory. Each directory partition, also called a naming context, contains objects of a particular scope and purpose. Below are the three major Active Directory partitions described:-· Schema Partition defines the object classes and their attributes for the entire directory. The configuration is replicated to everydomain controller in the forest.· Domain Partition contains all the objects stored in a domain, including users, groups, computers, and group policy containers (GPCs). This partition information is replicated to all domain controllers within a domain, but not to domain controllers in other domains.· Configuration Partition contains objects that represent the logical struct-er of the forest, domains, as well as the physical topology, including sites, subnets, and services.Application Directory Partition replicates directory partition only to specific domain controllers. This is responsible for generating and maintaining Replication topology. Objects stored in Application directory partition are not replicated to the Global Catalog.
What is a domain controller?
Domain Controller it is Microsoft Windows Server 2000/2003 directory server that provides access controls over users, accounts, groups, computers and other network resources. Domain Controller authenticate users and maintains directory services and the security database for a domain.
What dns solution supports secure dynamic dns?
Active Directory-Integrated DNS Active Directory-integrated DNS enables Active Directory storage and replication of DNS zone databases. Windows 2000 DNS server, the DNS server that is included with Windows 2000 Server, accommodates storing zone data in Active Directory. When you configure a computer as a DNS server, zones are usually stored as text files on name servers - that is, all of the zones required by DNS are stored in a text file on the server computer. These text files must be synchronized among DNS name servers by using a system that requires a separate replication topology and schedule called a zone transfer However, if you use Active Directory-integrated DNS when you configure a domain controller as a DNS name server, zone data is stored as an Active Directory object and is replicated as part of domain replication. note-icon Note Only DNS servers that run on domain controllers can load Active Directory-integrated zones. To use DNS integration within Active Directory, assign the zone type Active Directory-integrated when you create the zone.Objects that represent zone database records are created in the Microsoft DNS container within the System container (visible in the Advanced Features view in Active Directory Users and Computers), and the contents are replicated to all domain controllers in the domain. When you have Active Directory-integrated DNS zones, all Active Directory domain controllers that run Windows 2000 DNS server and are appropriately configured function as primary name servers. When DNS data is stored in Active Directory, each DNS zone is an Active Directory container object (class dnsZone ). The dnsZone object contains a DNS node object (class dnsNode ) for every unique name within that zone. These unique names include the variations assigned to a specific host computer when it functions, for example, as a primary domain controller or as a Global Catalog server. The dnsNode object has a dnsRecord multivalue attribute that contains a value for every resource record that is associated with an object's name. When other non-Windows 2000 DNS servers are already in place and Active Directory domains represent only part of the overall DNS namespace, standard zone transfer still can be used to synchronize zone data between Active Directory and other DNS servers When Windows 2000 DNS server is installed on at least one domain controller and has Active Directory-integrated zones, the zone data is always replicated to every domain controller in the domain. How DNS integrates with Active Directory When you install Active Directory on a server, you promote the server to the role of a domain controller for a specified domain. When completing this process, you are prompted to specify a DNS domain name for the Active Directory domain for which you are joining and promoting the server. If during this process, a DNS server authoritative for the domain that you specified either cannot be located on the network or does not support the DNS dynamic update protocol, you are prompted with the option to install a DNS server. This option is provided because a DNS server is required to locate this server or other domain controllers for members of an Active Directory domain. Once you have installed Active Directory, you have two options for storing and replicating your zones when operating the DNS server at the new domain controller: * Standard zone storage, using a text-based file. Zones stored this way are located in .Dns files that are stored in the systemroot\System32\Dns folder on each computer operating a DNS server. Zone file names correspond to the name you choose for the zone when creating it, such as abc.com.dns if the zone name was "abc.com." * Directory-integrated zone storage, using the Active Directory database. Zones stored this way are located in the Active Directory tree under the domain or application directory partition. Each directory-integrated zone is stored in a dnsZone container object identified by the name you choose for the zone when creating it. Benefits of Active Directory integration For networks deploying DNS to support Active Directory, directory-integrated primary zones are strongly recommended and provide the following benefits: * Multimaster update and enhanced security based on the capabilities of Active Directory. In a standard zone storage model, DNS updates are conducted based upon a single-master update model. In this model, a single authoritative DNS server for a zone is designated as the primary source for the zone. This server maintains the master copy of the zone in a local file. With this model, the primary server for the zone represents a single fixed point of failure. If this server is not available, update requests from DNS clients are not processed for the zone. With directory-integrated storage, dynamic updates to DNS are conducted based upon a multimaster update model. In this model, any authoritative DNS server, such as a domain controller running a DNS server, is designated as a primary source for the zone. Because the master copy of the zone is maintained in the Active Directory database, which is fully replicated to all domain controllers, the zone can be updated by the DNS servers operating at any domain controller for the domain. With the multimaster update model of Active Directory, any of the primary servers for the directory-integrated zone can process requests from DNS clients to update the zone as long as a domain controller is available and reachable on the network. Also, when using directory-integrated zones, you can use access control list (ACL) editing to secure a dnsZone object container in the directory tree. This feature provides granulated access to either the zone or a specified RR in the zone. For example, an ACL for a zone RR can be restricted so that dynamic updates are only allowed for a specified client computer or a secure group such as a domain administrators group. This security feature is not available with standard primary zones. Note that when you change the zone type to be directory-integrated, the default for updating the zone changes to allow only secure updates. Also, while you may use ACLs on DNS-related Active Directory objects, ACLs may only be applied to the DNS client service. * Zones are replicated and synchronized to new domain controllers automatically whenever a new one is added to an Active Directory domain. Although DNS service can be selectively removed from a domain controller, directory-integrated zones are already stored at each domain controller, so zone storage and management is not an additional resource. Also, the methods used to synchronize directory-stored information offer performance improvement over standard zone update methods, which can potentially require transfer of the entire zone. * By integrating storage of your DNS zone databases in Active Directory, you can streamline database replication planning for your network. When your DNS namespace and Active Directory domains are stored and replicated separately, you need to plan and potentially administer each separately. For example, when using standard DNS zone storage and Active Directory together, you would need to design, implement, test, and maintain two different database replication topologies. For example, one replication topology is needed for replicating directory data between domain controllers, and another topology would be needed for replicating zone databases between DNS servers. This can create additional administrative complexity for planning and designing your network and allowing for its eventual growth. By integrating DNS storage, you unify storage management and replication issues for both DNS and Active Directory, merging and viewing them together as a single administrative entity. * Directory replication is faster and more efficient than standard DNS replication. Because Active Directory replication processing is performed on a per-property basis, only relevant changes are propagated. This allows less data to be used and submitted in updates for directory-stored zones.
Which dns solution supports secure dynamic dns?
The Active directory integrated zone helps to to secure dns and gives dynamic updates of DNS in the domain. When you install Active Directory on a server, you promote the server to the role of a domain controller for a specified domain. When completing this process, you are prompted to specify a DNS domain name for the Active Directory domain for which you are joining and promoting the server. If during this process, a DNS server authoritative for the domain that you specified either cannot be located on the network or does not support the DNS dynamic update protocol, you are prompted with the option to install a DNS server. This option is provided because a DNS server is required to locate this server or other domain controllers for members of an Active Directory domain. Once you have installed Active Directory, you have two options for storing and replicating your zones when operating the DNS server at the new domain controller: * Standard zone storage, using a text-based file. Zones stored this way are located in .Dns files that are stored in the systemroot\System32\Dns folder on each computer operating a DNS server. Zone file names correspond to the name you choose for the zone when creating it, such as abc.com.dns if the zone name was "abc.com." * Directory-integrated zone storage, using the Active Directory database. Zones stored this way are located in the Active Directory tree under the domain or application directory partition. Each directory-integrated zone is stored in a dnsZone container object identified by the name you choose for the zone when creating it. Benefits of Active Directory integration For networks deploying DNS to support Active Directory, directory-integrated primary zones are strongly recommended and provide the following benefits: * Multimaster update and enhanced security based on the capabilities of Active Directory. In a standard zone storage model, DNS updates are conducted based upon a single-master update model. In this model, a single authoritative DNS server for a zone is designated as the primary source for the zone. This server maintains the master copy of the zone in a local file. With this model, the primary server for the zone represents a single fixed point of failure. If this server is not available, update requests from DNS clients are not processed for the zone. With directory-integrated storage, dynamic updates to DNS are conducted based upon a multimaster update model. In this model, any authoritative DNS server, such as a domain controller running a DNS server, is designated as a primary source for the zone. Because the master copy of the zone is maintained in the Active Directory database, which is fully replicated to all domain controllers, the zone can be updated by the DNS servers operating at any domain controller for the domain. With the multimaster update model of Active Directory, any of the primary servers for the directory-integrated zone can process requests from DNS clients to update the zone as long as a domain controller is available and reachable on the network. Also, when using directory-integrated zones, you can use access control list (ACL) editing to secure a dnsZone object container in the directory tree. This feature provides granulated access to either the zone or a specified RR in the zone. For example, an ACL for a zone RR can be restricted so that dynamic updates are only allowed for a specified client computer or a secure group such as a domain administrators group. This security feature is not available with standard primary zones. Note that when you change the zone type to be directory-integrated, the default for updating the zone changes to allow only secure updates. Also, while you may use ACLs on DNS-related Active Directory objects, ACLs may only be applied to the DNS client service. * Zones are replicated and synchronized to new domain controllers automatically whenever a new one is added to an Active Directory domain. Although DNS service can be selectively removed from a domain controller, directory-integrated zones are already stored at each domain controller, so zone storage and management is not an additional resource. Also, the methods used to synchronize directory-stored information offer performance improvement over standard zone update methods, which can potentially require transfer of the entire zone. * By integrating storage of your DNS zone databases in Active Directory, you can streamline database replication planning for your network. When your DNS namespace and Active Directory domains are stored and replicated separately, you need to plan and potentially administer each separately. For example, when using standard DNS zone storage and Active Directory together, you would need to design, implement, test, and maintain two different database replication topologies. For example, one replication topology is needed for replicating directory data between domain controllers, and another topology would be needed for replicating zone databases between DNS servers. This can create additional administrative complexity for planning and designing your network and allowing for its eventual growth. By integrating DNS storage, you unify storage management and replication issues for both DNS and Active Directory, merging and viewing them together as a single administrative entity. * Directory replication is faster and more efficient than standard DNS replication. Because Active Directory replication processing is performed on a per-property basis, only relevant changes are propagated. This allows less data to be used and submitted in updates for directory-stored zones.
Why is dns a requirement for active directory to work?
DNS is extremely important to all aspects of proper Active Directory operation. Any time a client makes a request for a domain service, it must find a domain controller to service that request, which is where DNS comes in to play.There are two types of DNS queries: recursive and iterative.When a DNS client requests DNS information, it uses a recursive query to do so.In a recursive query, the DNS client sends its query to the first DNS server that it has been configured for in its TCP/IP configuration. It then sits and waits for the server to return an answer. If the server returns a positive response, the client will then go to the IP address returned by the server.
The hierarchical structure of Active Directory is made of the following main components?
It is a hierarchical representation of all the objects and their attributes available on the network. It enables administrators to manage the network resources, i.e., computers, users, printers, shared folders, etc., in an easy way. The logical structure represented by Active Directory consists of forests, trees, domains, organizational units, and individual objects. This structure is completely independent from the physical structure of the network, and allows administrators to manage domains according to the organizational needs without bothering about the physical network structure. Following is the description of all logical components of the Active Directory structure: Forest: A forest is the outermost boundary of an Active Directory structure. It is a group of multiple domain trees that share a common schema but do not form a contiguous namespace. It is created when the first Active Directory-based computer is installed on a network. There is at least one forest on a network. The first domain in a forest is called a root domain. It controls the schema and domain naming for the entire forest. It can be separately removed from the forest. Administrators can create multiple forests and then create trust relationships between specific domains in those forests, depending upon the organizational needs. Trees: A hierarchical structure of multiple domains organized in the Active Directory forest is referred to as a tree. It consists of a root domain and several child domains. The first domain created in a tree becomes the root domain. Any domain added to the root domain becomes its child, and the root domain becomes its parent. The parent-child hierarchy continues until the terminal node is reached. All domains in a tree share a common schema, which is defined at the forest level. Depending upon the organizational needs, multiple domain trees can be included in a forest. Domains: A domain is the basic organizational structure of a Windows Server 2003 networking model. It logically organizes the resources on a network and defines a security boundary in Active Directory. The directory may contain more than one domain, and each domain follows its own security policy and trust relationships with other domains. Almost all the organizations having a large network use domain type of networking model to enhance network security and enable administrators to efficiently manage the entire network. Objects: Active Directory stores all network resources in the form of objects in a hierarchical structure of containers and subcontainers, thereby making them easily accessible and manageable. Each object class consists of several attributes. Whenever a new object is created for a particular class, it automatically inherits all attributes from its member class. Although the Windows Server 2003 Active Directory defines its default set of objects, administrators can modify it according to the organizational needs. Organizational Unit (OU): It is the least abstract component of the Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. It works as a container into which resources of a domain can be placed. Its logical structure is similar to an organization's functional structure. It allows creating administrative boundaries in a domain by delegating separate administrative tasks to the administrators on the domain. Administrators can create multiple Organizational Units in the network. They can also create nesting of OUs, which means that other OUs can be created within an OU. In a large complex network, the Active Directory service provides a single point of management for the administrators by placing all the network resources at a single place. It allows administrators to effectively delegate administrative tasks as well as facilitate fast searching of network resources. It is easily scalable, i.e., administrators can add a large number of resources to it without having additional administrative burden. It is accomplished by partitioning the directory database, distributing it across other domains, and establishing trust relationships, thereby providing users with benefits of decentralization, and at the same time, maintaining the centralized administration. The physical network infrastructure of Active Directory is far too simple as compared to its logical structure. The physical components are domain controllers and sites. Domain Controller: A Windows 2003 server on which Active Directory services are installed and run is called a domain controller. A domain controller locally resolves queries for information about objects in its domain. A domain can have multiple domain controllers. Each domain controller in a domain follows the multimaster model by having a complete replica of the domain's directory partition. In this model, every domain controller holds a master copy of its directory partition. Administrators can use any of the domain controllers to modify the Active Directory database. The changes performed by the administrators are automatically replicated to other domain controllers in the domain. However, there are some operations that do not follow the multimaster model. Active Directory handles these operations and assigns them to a single domain controller to be accomplished. Such a domain controller is referred to as operations master. The operations master performs several roles, which can be forest-wide as well as domain-wide. Forest-wide roles: There are two types of forest-wide roles: Schema Master and Domain Naming Master. The Schema Master is responsible for maintaining the schema and distributing it to the entire forest. The Domain Naming Master is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the forest by recording additions of domains to and deletions of domains from the forest. When new domains are to be added to a forest, the Domain Naming Master role is queried. In the absence of this role, new domains cannot be added. Domain-wide roles: There are three types of domain-wide roles: RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master. RID Master: The RID Master is one of the operations master roles that exist in each domain in a forest. It controls the sequence number for the domain controllers within a domain. It provides a unique sequence of RIDs to each domain controller in a domain. When a domain controller creates a new object, the object is assigned a unique security ID consisting of a combination of a domain SID and a RID. The domain SID is a constant ID, whereas the RID is assigned to each object by the domain controller. The domain controller receives the RIDs from the RID Master. When the domain controller has used all the RIDs provided by the RID Master, it requests the RID Master to issue more RIDs for creating additional objects within the domain. When a domain controller exhausts its pool of RIDs, and the RID Master is unavailable, any new object in the domain cannot be created. PDC Emulator: The PDC emulator is one of the five operations master roles in Active Directory. It is used in a domain containing non-Active Directory computers. It processes the password changes from both users and computers, replicates those updates to backup domain controllers, and runs the Domain Master browser. When a domain user requests a domain controller for authentication, and the domain controller is unable to authenticate the user due to bad password, the request is forwarded to the PDC emulator. The PDC emulator then verifies the password, and if it finds the updated entry for the requested password, it authenticates the request. Infrastructure Master: The Infrastructure Master role is one of the Operations Master roles in Active Directory. It functions at the domain level and exists in each domain in the forest. It maintains all inter-domain object references by updating references from the objects in its domain to the objects in other domains. It performs a very important role in a multiple domain environment. It compares its data with that of a Global Catalog, which always has up-to-date information about the objects of all domains. When the Infrastructure Master finds data that is obsolete, it requests the global catalog for its updated version. If the updated data is available in the global catalog, the Infrastructure Master extracts and replicates the updated data to all the other domain controllers in the domain. Domain controllers can also be assigned the role of a Global Catalog server. A Global Catalog is a special Active Directory database that stores a full replica of the directory for its host domain and the partial replica of the directories of other domains in a forest. It is created by default on the initial domain controller in the forest. It performs the following primary functions regarding logon capabilities and queries within Active Directory: It enables network logon by providing universal group membership information to a domain controller when a logon request is initiated. It enables finding directory information about all the domains in an Active Directory forest. A Global Catalog is required to log on to a network within a multidomain environment. By providing universal group membership information, it greatly improves the response time for queries. In its absence, a user will be allowed to log on only to his local domain if his user account is external to the local domain. Site: A site is a group of domain controllers that exist on different IP subnets and are connected via a fast and reliable network connection. A network may contain multiple sites connected by a WAN link. Sites are used to control replication traffic, which may occur within a site or between sites. Replication within a site is referred to as intrasite replication, and that between sites is referred to as intersite replication. Since all domain controllers within a site are generally connected by a fast LAN connection, the intrasite replication is always in uncompressed form. Any changes made in the domain are quickly replicated to the other domain controllers. Since sites are connected to each other via a WAN connection, the intersite replication always occurs in compressed form. Therefore, it is slower than the intrasite replication
What is directory schema?
The Active Directory schema defines the kinds of objects, the types of information about those objects, and the default security configuration for those objects that can be stored in Active Directory. The Active Directory schema contains the formal definitions of all objects, such as users, computers, and printers that are stored in Active Directory. On domain controllers running either Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003, there is only one schema for an entire forest. This way, all objects that are created in Active Directory conform to the same rules. The schema has two types of definitions: object classes and attributes. Object classes such as user, computer, and printer describe the possible directory objects that you can create. Each object class is a collection of attributes. Attributes are defined separately from object classes. Each attribute is defined only once and can be used in multiple object classes. For example, the Description attribute is used in many object classes, but is defined only once in the schema to ensure consistency.
What is the primary distinction between an active directory tree and an active directory forest?
The Domain is the core unit of logical structure in Active Directory. All objects which shares a common directory database, trust relationship with other domain and security policies is known as Domain. Each domain stores information only about the objects that belong to that domain.All security polices and settings, such as administrative rights, security policies, and Access Control Lists (ACLs), do not cross from one domain to another, thus a domain administrator has full rights to set policies only within domain they belong to.Domains provide administrative boundaries for objects; manage security for shared resources and a unit of replication for objects.A TreeTrees are collections of one or more domains that allow global resource sharing. A tree may consist of a single domain or multiple domains in a contiguous namespace. Adding a domain to a tree becomes a child of the tree root domain. Domain will be called as parent domain to which child domain is attached. A child domain can also have its multiple child domains. Child domain uses the name followed by parent domain name and gets a unique Domain Name System (DNS).For example, if tech.com is the root domain, you can create one or more Child domains to tech.com such as north.tech.com and or south.tech.com. These "children" may also have child domains created under them, such as sales.north.tech.com.The domains in a tree have two-way, Kerberos transitive trust relationships. A Kerberos transitive trust simply means that if Domain A trusts Domain B and Domain B trusts Domain C, then Domain A trusts Domain C. Therefore, a domain joining a tree immediately has trust relationships established with every domain in the tree.A ForestA forest is a collection of multiple trees that share a common global catalog, directory schema, logical structure, and directory configuration. Forest has automatic two-way transitive trust relationships. The very first domain you create in the forest is called the forest root domain.Forests allow organizations to group their divisions which use different naming scheme, and may need to operate independently. But as an organization they want to communicate with the entire organization via transitive trusts, and share the same schema and configuration container.
How can you backup active directory?
Backing up Active Directory is essential to maintain an Active Directory database. You can back up Active Directory by using the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and command-line tools that the Windows Server 2003 family provides. You frequently backup the system state data on domain controllers so that you can restore the most current data. By establishing a regular backup schedule, you have a better chance of recovering data when necessary. To ensure a good backup includes at least the system state data and contents of the system disk, you must be aware of the tombstone lifetime. By default, the tombstone is 60 days. Any backup older than 60 days is not a good backup. Plan to backup at least two domain controllers in each domain, one of at least one backup to enable an authoritative restore of the data when necessary. System State Data Several features in the windows server 2003 family make it easy to backup Active Directory. You can backup Active Directory while the server is online and other network function can continue to function. System state data on a domain controller includes the following components: Active Directory system state data does not contain Active Directory unless the server, on which you are backing up the system state data, is a domain controller. Active Directory is present only on domain controllers. The SYSVOL shared folder: This shared folder contains Group policy templates and logon scripts. The SYSVOL shared folder is present only on domain controllers. The Registry: This database repository contains information about the computer's configuration. System startup files: Windows Server 2003 requires these files during its initial startup phase. They include the boot and system files that are under windows file protection and used by windows to load, configure, and run the operating system. The COM+ Class Registration database: The Class registration is a database of information about Component Services applications. The Certificate Services database: This database contains certificates that a server running Windows server 2003 uses to authenticate users. The Certificate Services database is present only if the server is operating as a certificate server. System state data contains most elements of a system's configuration, but it may not include all of the information that you require recovering data from a system failure. Therefore, be sure to backup all boot and system volumes, including the System State, when you back up your server. Restoring Active Directory In Windows Server 2003 family, you can restore the Active Directory database if it becomes corrupted or is destroyed because of hardware or software failures. You must restore the Active Directory database when objects in Active Directory are changed or deleted. Active Directory restore can be performed in several ways. Replication synchronizes the latest changes from every other replication partner. Once the replication is finished each partner has an updated version of Active Directory. There is another way to get these latest updates by Backup utility to restore replicated data from a backup copy. For this restore you don't need to configure again your domain controller or no need to install the operating system from scratch. Active Directory Restore Methods You can use one of the three methods to restore Active Directory from backup media: primary restore, normal (non authoritative) restore, and authoritative restore. Primary restore: This method rebuilds the first domain controller in a domain when there is no other way to rebuild the domain. Perform a primary restore only when all the domain controllers in the domain are lost, and you want to rebuild the domain from the backup. Members of Administrators group can perform the primary restore on local computer, or user should have been delegated with this responsibility to perform restore. On a domain controller only Domain Admins can perform this restore. Normal restore: This method reinstates the Active Directory data to the state before the backup, and then updates the data through the normal replication process. Perform a normal restore for a single domain controller to a previously known good state. Authoritative restore: You perform this method in tandem with a normal restore. An authoritative restore marks specific data as current and prevents the replication from overwriting that data. The authoritative data is then replicated through the domain. Perform an authoritative restore individual object in a domain that has multiple domain controllers. When you perform an authoritative restore, you lose all changes to the restore object that occurred after the backup. Ntdsutil is a command line utility to perform an authoritative restore along with windows server 2003 system utilities. The Ntdsutil command-line tool is an executable file that you use to mark Active Directory objects as authoritative so that they receive a higher version recently changed data on other domain controllers does not overwrite system state data during replication.
