Active Administrator 8.8.1 - User Guide

Active Directory Recovery

Active Directory Recovery provides the ability to recover deleted Active Directory® objects and properties, as well as to manage Active Directory backup retention. The preview and compare functions allow administrators to preview the object before it is restored or compare the attributes of the selected object in the archive with those of the same object in the Active Directory.

IMPORTANT: Active Administrator® restores only selected user, group, and organizational unit (OU) objects, and their attributes from the backup file. If you require a backup file that restores Active Directory in its entirety, we recommend that you use an Active Directory disaster recovery product.

Topics 

•	Using the Active Directory Recovery landing page

•	Managing Active Directory backups

•	Restoring from a backup

•	Purging Active Directory backups

Using the Active Directory Recovery landing page

Using the Active Directory Recovery landing page

The landing page displays the active tiles for each feature in the section. The active tiles automatically update every 30 minutes, but you can use the icons to refresh the tiles at any time. You also can pause and resume the refresh of data. To customize the active tile refresh, see Setting general user options.

To use the Active Directory Recovery landing page

1	Click Recovery.

2	To access the features in this section, click an active tile or choose from the tree.

▪	Recovery (see Managing Active Directory backups)

▪	Purge backups (see Purging Active Directory backups)

Managing Active Directory backups

Managing Active Directory backups

To manage Active Directory® backups

1	Select Recovery | Object Recovery.

2	Use the tool bar to manage the backup files.

 

Table 90. Object Recovery tool bar

Option	Description
Domain	Select a single domain or all domains to help manage the list of backup files.
Refresh	Refresh the display.
Backup Now	Back up Active Directory. You also can schedule backups. See Setting recovery options.
Restore	Restore selected objects and attributes from a backup file. See Restoring from a backup.
Delete	Delete a selected backup file.
View Log	View the log for a selected backup file. You can filter the contents and clear the log.

Restoring from a backup

Restoring from a backup

A wizard guides you through selecting objects and attributes to restore from a selected backup file. You also can set options for restoring a user password.

IMPORTANT: If Password Recovery was disabled when the backup occurred, passwords were not backed up. If you restore a backup that does not contain passwords, you must dis-join and then rejoin computer accounts. To see if Password Recovery is enabled, select Configuration | Recovery Settings. See Setting recovery options.

To restore from a backup file

1	Select Recovery | Object Recovery.

2	Select a backup file, and click Restore.

TIP: To narrow the list of backup files, you can select a single domain from the Domain list.

3	On the Welcome page, click Next.

4	Locate the objects to restore using one of these methods:

▪	To use the search feature to find the objects, click Find.

▪	To browse through the backup file to locate the objects, click Browse.

5	Select an object, and click Compare.

Before restoring an archived object, you might want to compare the attributes with those of the same object in the Active Directory®.

6	To filter the list, select which attributes to display.

 

Table 91. Filter options

Option	Description
Only attributes that differ	Select to show only the attributes whose values are different in the backup file and Active Directory.
Only attributes that are the same	Select to show only the attributes whose values are the same in the backup file and Active Directory.
Show all attributes	Select to show all the attributes in the backup file and Active Directory.

7	Click Refresh.

8	After examining the comparison, click Close.

9	Click Next.

10	Select the attributes to restore.

 

Table 92. Restore options for attributes

Option	Description
Restore all attributes	By default, all attributes for the specified object are restored.
Restore only security attributes	Select to restore only security attributes.
Restore only these attributes	Select to restore only the attributes selected in the list.

11	Click Next.

12	Browse to select the domain controller to restore to, if necessary.

13	Select how to restore the attributes.

 

Table 93. Restore options for attributes

Option	Description
Only	By default, only the specified attributes for the selected object are restored.
And all objects it contains	Select to restore the specified attributes for objects contained by the selected object.
And all objects it contains of this type	Select to restore the specified attributes for objects of the selected type contained by the selected object. Select a type from the list.
Only recover deleted objects	Select to restore only objects that are in the backup file, but not the live database.

14	Click Next.

When restoring a user that was deleted previously, you can enter a new password and require them to reset the password when they first log on.

IMPORTANT: If Password Recovery was disabled when the backup occurred, passwords were not backed up. If you restore a backup that does not contain passwords, you must dis-join and then rejoin computer accounts.

15	Set the options for restoring passwords.

 

Table 94. Restore options for passwords

Option	Description
Recover passwords from Active Directory	By default, passwords are restored. Password Recovery must be enabled when the backup occurs for passwords to be restored. See Setting recovery options. NOTE: If selected, the Force change password at next logon check box is selected automatically and cannot be changed. Users must change their password the next time they logon.
Use this password for all undeleted user objects	Select to assign the same password to all undeleted user objects. Type a password in the Password and Confirm Password boxes.
Generate random passwords for undeleted user objects	Select to let Active Administrator® generate passwords. Browse to create a text file in which to record the passwords that are generated. You can change the minimum and maximum number of characters in the password. Each password has at least one lower-case character, one upper-case character, and one numeric character.
Force change password at next logon	Requires the user to change their password once they log on with the password you specified here (default). NOTE: This check box is selected and disabled automatically if the Recover passwords from Active Directory check box is selected.

16	Click Next.

17	Review the settings.

▪	To check the object before you start the restore process, click Preview.

▪	To save the preview to a .txt file, click Save.

18	To start the recovery, click Next.

19	Click Finish.