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To avoid that, make sure the Create snapshots using VSS option is selected in the backup settings
when creating a backup of a domain controller:
Note:
This option is not selected by default, so be sure to select it.
Once you have a full backup of your domain controller, the backup stores the information that is
required to later restore your Active Directory.
The next question is how often you need to back up the domain controller. Microsoft recommends
performing at least two backups within the tombstone lifetime – which is, depending on the version
of the operating system, where your domain has been created, 60 or 180 days. We’ll discuss the
tombstone lifetime and its impact on the ability to restore later in this document – but as a bare
minimum, back up at least monthly.
To summarize, the following needs to be done in order to perform complete Active Directory
database backup:
•
Make sure that at least one of your domain controllers is backed up.
•
Make sure that your most up-to-date backup of the domain controller is not older than half of
the tombstone lifetime (not older than 30 days in most cases). It doesn’t matter if the latest
backup is full or incremental – you can perform successful restore from either. You just have to
have one.
•
Create a backup immediately in any of the following events, as the existing backups may become
not good enough for successful restore:
o
Active Directory database and/or log have been moved to a different location.
o
An operating system on the domain controller is upgraded, or a service pack is installed.
o
A hotfix that changes the AD database is installed.
o
The tombstone lifetime is changed administratively.