Recovery Manager for AD Disaster Recovery Edition 10.2.1 - User Guide

Restore Active Directory on Clean OS

Using the Restore Active Directory on Clean OS method you can restore the entire forest or any of its parts on the freshly installed Windows machines. This recovery method can be used, for example, when existing BMR backups contain the infected OS image. In this case, Active Directory backups can be used due to they do not contain binaries (except Sysvol files). Active Directory backups can be also checked for viruses.

Domain controllers that are running on virtual machines in Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure can be restored with the Restore Active Directory on Clean OS method.

At the first stage of the Restore Active Directory on Clean OS recovery method, the DNS server role is installed on a domain controller. For this reason, it is recommended to use a backup that was made on the AD-integrated DNS server for Clean OS recovery. You can still use backups that were made on the non-AD-integrated DNS server but in this case you should not use Automatic DNS selection option on any domain controller in such a domain.
If your domain has AD-integrated DNS servers restored from backup, you need to specify the DNS settings manually. After recovery, the domain controller that was restored by the Restore Active Directory on Clean OS recovery method synchronizes DNS partitions and continues to be a DNS server.
If your domain uses external DNS, you need to specify the DNS settings manually for every domain controller in the domain. After recovery, the domain controller restored by the Restore Active Directory on Clean OS recovery method will run a non-functional DNS server so you can uninstall it.

If you are testing Forest Recovery in the lab environment and your production forest uses an external (non-AD integrated) DNS server.

1. You can prepare the lab by installing a new DNS server (e.g. on the RMAD server).

2. Create empty DNS zones on this server in accordance with your production DNS configuration.

3. Ensure that SOA and NS records created in the empty zone have the FQDN DNS name corresponding to this DNS server.

4. Create an A record pointing to this server IP address in each zone.

5. Ensure that non-secure DNS dynamic updates are enabled.

Recovery steps

Step 1. Install the clean Windows image on the existing hardware or virtual machine

A blank host should comply with the following requirements:

• The version of the Windows operating system must match the version deployed on the failed domain controller.

• A blank host must have the same drive letters as the source domain controller if the Use AD paths from backup check box is selected or the drive letters must match the custom paths specified in the project.

• A blank host should have enough free space for AD and SYSVOL data.

• The account that is specified in Forest Recovery Console to access the target blank host should be the local Administrator on this machine.

Step 2. Select any appropriate Active Directory backup

Step 3. Use the Restore Active Directory on Clean OS recovery method

Recovery Manager for Active Directory promotes the selected Windows server to a domain controller and then restores Active Directory data.

Create virtual machines in Microsoft Azure

You can use the Forest Recovery Console to create a virtual machine in Microsoft Azure Active Directory. You can then use the Restore Active Directory to Clean OS recovery method to restore Active Directory on the virtual machine.

Prerequisites

Create Active Directory backups
Create a recovery project

To create a virtual machine in Microsoft Azure

1. In the Forest Recovery Console, create a new project or select an existing recovery project.

2. Select the Domain Controller to be created as a virtual machine in Azure.

3. From the Recovery Method drop-down list, select Restore Active Directory on Clean OS.

4. In the Server access credentials section, type the user name and password that you want to be created as a local account on the new virtual machine in Azure. These credentials are used during the Forest Recovery process.

5. In the Backup Access Credentials section, type the user name and password to access the selected backup file. The backup file must be accessible from the Forest Recovery Console and from the newly created DCs in Azure. For example, if your backup is located on a file share in Azure, supply credentials with access to the file share.

6. On the Infrastructure tab, from the Infrastructure drop-down list, select Microsoft Azure.

7. Click Edit to configure the infrastructure template and virtual machine settings.

8. In the Recovery Project Settings window, on the Infrastructure tab, click Login to sign in to the Azure tenant. Provide a user account that is assigned an Azure role with create and write permissions for the required resource group and all other virtual machine resources. The Azure built-in role of Owner or User Access Administrator on the subscription is recommended.

After successful login, the fields on the Infrastructure tab are populated with information retrieved from the tenant. This includes available subscriptions, resource groups, networks, and security groups. If the resource already exists in the selected Azure subscription RMAD will not create a duplicate. This reuse of resources is recommended for performance of your restore operation.

9. From the Subscription drop-down list, select the subscription to be used by the infrastructure template.

10. In the Infrastructure Settings section, configure the following settings:

    • Location: Select the location where the virtual machine will be created.
    • Resource group: Select an existing resource group for the virtual machine or click Create new to create a new resource group.
    • Security group: Select the Network security group or click Create new to create a new Network security group within the selected Resource group.
    • Network: Select the virtual network where the virtual machine will reside or click Create new to add a new virtual network.
    • IP range: Specify a custom private IP address space using public and private (RFC 1918) addresses. Azure assigns resources in a virtual network a private IP address from the address space that you assign.
    • Subnetwork: Select an existing subnetwork or click Create new to create a new one.
    • Subnetwork IP range: Specify a subnetwork address range in CIDR notation (for example, 192.168.1.0/24) and it must be contained by the address space of the virtual network.

11. To manually assign a static IP address for the virtual machine to be created in Microsoft Azure select the Manually assign a static IP address in the subnet's address range checkbox. After the template settings are configured and the Azure template is applied to domain controllers, click the Infrastructure tab for the domain controller, under Target Virtual Machine. Type a valid IP address within the sub-network IP range for the virtual machine in Azure. When the virtual machine (Domain Controller) is created in Azure, the IP address will be statically assigned.

12. The Forest Recovery Console should have access to the virtual network where the Azure virtual machine will be created. If there is no Point-to-Site or Site-to-Site VPN connection to the Azure virtual network exists, select the Connect VMs using Virtual Network Gateway (VPN Connection) check box to connect to Azure using an existing Virtual Network Gateway, or to create a new Virtual Network Gateway. When this checkbox is selected, a VPN connection to Azure will be configured automatically on the Forest Recovery console machine for communication. Next, complete the following steps:
    • From the Network drop-down list, select an existing Virtual network gateway or click Create new to create a new Virtual network gateway.
    • In the Address Pool field, an IP address received from the client address pool is listed for VPN clients that connect to the virtual network using this point-to-site connection.

13. To remove all resources created by the Verify Settings process, select the Delete infrastructure after verification check box. After the Verify Settings process is complete, all resources within the Resource group will be removed except the Resource group. This is useful for testing purposes or to manage cost. During recovery, the required Azure resource will be created. If the Delete infrastructure after verification check box is not selected, resources created by the Verify Settings will remain and will be used for future verifications and recoveries.

14. In the Virtual machine Settings section, configure the following settings:

    • Virtual machine name: Type a name for the virtual machine or use the {DnsName} template.

    • Overwrite the VM if exists: Select this check box if you want the new VM to overwrite an existing one with the same name.

    • Delete VM after verification: Select this check box to delete the virtual machine after the Verify Settings process is complete. This is useful for testing purposes or if the machine is expected to be unused and to manage cost. The check box is automatically selected when the Delete infrastructure after verification is selected. If a recovery process is started, the machine is recreated.

    • Virtual machine size: Select the instance type for the virtual machine size that you want based on the number of CPUs and amount of memory. A full list of all available instance types is provided for selection.

    • Auto select virtual machine size: Select this check box to have the virtual machine size automatically selected based on the original domain controller configuration. When automatically selecting the virtual machine size, Recovery Manager for Active Directory uses the Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine D-series for general purpose computing. The number of cores is then read from the backup and the closest match found. For cost efficiency the smallest available memory size is selected.

    • Storage type: Select the storage type. This affects performance.

    • Disk size: Select Use Original Sizes for the disk size to be determined by the size of the Active Directory data size (DIT, LOGS, SYSVOL) in the back up. Select Set Size to customize the size of the disk for the virtual machine.

      ^{note} The disk will have a minimum size (128 GB for an operating system disk and 8 GB for a data disk). If the selected disk size is not large enough for the restored data, the system will use the required size and this setting will be ignored.

15. Click Apply then click OK.

A service principal containing the settings you configured is created for the connection to Azure.

To start recovery of Active Directory to Microsoft Azure virtual machines

1. Click Verify Settings to start the project verification. During verification, resources will be created in Microsoft Azure based on the infrastructure template assigned to the Domain controller(s) in the project.
2. After Verify Settings has successfully completed, click Start Recovery.

During recovery, the Active Directory backups of the domain controllers defined in the recovery project will be restored to newly created virtual machines in Microsoft Azure.

Bare metal forest recovery

Active Directory failure, which includes corrupted, completely lost, or unbootable domain controllers, is something that scares any administrator. There can be a lot of reasons for the loss of valuable data. It can be caused by any error, a virus, or a natural disaster. With our disaster recovery plan, you get an insurance policy for your business information.

This section contains recommendations for recovering an Active Directory forest if forest-wide failure renders all domain controllers (DCs) in the forest incapable of functioning normally.

• Bare metal recovery requirements and limitations
• Preparing backups
• Secure Storage Server
• Restoring from standard Active Directory backup
• NIC teaming support
• Disaster recovery workflow
• Boot from the ISO image automatically
• Creating a virtual test environment using Disaster Recovery Edition

Bare metal recovery requirements and limitations

Backup storage requirements

• If you do not want to encrypt BMR backups, we recommend that you enable the Server Message Block (SMB) Encryption feature (SMB version 3.0 and higher ) on the network share to secure network connection. For more details on how to turn on SMB Encryption, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/file-server/smb-security. Note that backed up domain controllers must support SMB Encryption as well.

• The best practice is to store backups in the repository that is located in the same Active Directory site due to faster network.

• For Windows Server 2008 R2, BMR backups that are stored on the Forest Recovery Console host are not supported.

• The account that is used to access the BMR backups location must have Read and Write permissions for that location.

• If the process of creating a Windows Server 2008 R2 BMR backup completes with an error similar to "The sector size of the physical disk on which the virtual disk resides is not supported", make sure that the disk sector size on the target machine (NAS device or similar) is equal to 512 bytes. For instance, NetApp ONTAP operating system uses the following command: vserver cifs options modify -file-system-sector-size 512.

Backup requirements and limitations

Active Directory does not allow the use of a backup with an age that exceeds the Active Directory tombstone lifetime (default is 180 days). But if there is a RMAD BMR backup that is older than 180 days and a more recent Active Directory backup, you can successfully perform the restore operation.

Target system requirements

• The number of physical disks on the target computer must be equal to or exceed the number of critical disks on the source machine at the time the backup was created. A critical disk contains critical volumes (volumes that contain the operating system's state).

• The order of system partitions must be the same on the target disk as on the source one.

• The physical disks on the target computer must be of the same size as the critical disks or larger.

• If a source machine with the legacy BIOS firmware has physical disks of different sizes, it is critical to have the same physical disks order on the target machine. For example, if a source has two disks - disk 0 (90 GB), disk 1 (40 GB), the target should have the same 90-40 order.

• The firmware on the target computer must be compatible with the configuration of the source disks.

  • If the physical disks on the source computer have the GPT partition style, the target computer must have UEFI firmware and must be booted in the UEFI mode.

  • If the physical disks on the source computer have the MBR partition style, then the target machine should be booted in the BIOS-compatibility mode (or just legacy BIOS mode).

Bare Metal Backup encryption

• It is recommended that you encrypt your Bare Metal Recovery backup by selecting the Encrypt and protect backups with password option (by default, this option is disabled) on the Backup tab in the collection properties. For details, see Creating BMR and Active Directory backups. In this case, not only the backup data stored on the remote share is encrypted, but the data transferred over the network during the backup operation is encrypted as well.

• If Active Directory backup encryption is enabled, the RMAD BMR backup will be encrypted by BitLocker. Recovery Manager for Active Directory uses a virtual hard disk encrypted by BitLocker as a container for the backup (256-bit AES encryption).

• An encryption key for the backup is derived from the backup password and is not tied to a TPM chip (if any). This means that the encrypted RMAD BMR can be used on another machine, without or with another TPM chip. Only a backup password is required.

• The BitLocker Drive Encryption feature should be installed on all backed up domain controllers and on the Forest Recovery Console machine to support encrypted BMR backups. But note that the BitLocker feature does not encrypt DC drives automatically. After the feature is installed, it is required to reboot the machine.

To enable backup encryption, see Enabling backup encryption.