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Recovery Manager for AD Forest Edition 10.3 - User Guide

Overview Getting started
Permissions required to use Recovery Manager for Active Directory Recovery Manager Console Getting and using help Configuring Windows Firewall Using Computer Collections Hybrid Recovery with On Demand Recovery Managing Recovery Manager for Active Directory configuration Licensing
Backing up data
Permissions required for the Backup operation Managing Backup Agent Using a least-privileged user account to back up data Using Managed Service Accounts Active Directory backups vs Windows System State backups Creating BMR and Active Directory backups Using the Backup Wizard Retrying backup creation Enabling backup encryption Backing up AD LDS (ADAM) Backing up cross-domain group membership Backing up distributed file system (DFS) data Backup scheduling Setting performance options Setting advanced backup options Using Forest Recovery Agent Unpacking backups Using e-mail notification Viewing backup creation results
Restoring data
Getting started with Active Directory recovery Managing deleted or recycled objects Restoring backed up Active Directory components Integration with Change Auditor for Active Directory Using granular online restore Restoring AD LDS (ADAM) Selectively restoring Active Directory object attributes Restoring objects in an application directory partition Restoring object quotas Restoring cross-domain group membership Performing a restore without having administrator privileges Reports about objects and operations Using complete offline restore Offline restore implications Restoring SYSVOL authoritatively Performing a granular restore of SYSVOL Recovering Group Policy Restoring data from third-party backups Using the Extract Wizard Restoring passwords and SID history
Full Replication Consolidating backup registration data Monitoring Recovery Manager for Active Directory Recovering an Active Directory forest
Forest recovery overview Deploying Recovery Manager for Active Directory Forest Edition (Disaster Recovery Edition) Permissions required to use Forest Recovery Console Forest Recovery Console Managing a recovery project Recovery methods Phased recovery Managing Forest Recovery Agent Rebooting domain controllers manually Resetting DSRM Administrator Password Purging Kerberos Tickets Managing the Global Catalog servers Managing FSMO roles Manage DNS Client Settings Configuring Windows Firewall Developing a custom forest recovery plan Backing up domain controllers Assigning a preferred DNS server during recovery Handling DNS servers during recovery Forest recovery approaches Deciding which backups to use Running custom scripts while recovering a forest Overview of steps to recover a forest Viewing forest recovery progress Viewing recovery plan Viewing a report about forest recovery or verify settings operation Handling failed domain controllers Adding a domain controller to a running recovery operation Selectively recovering domains in a forest Recovering SYSVOL Deleting domains during recovery Resuming an interrupted forest recovery Recovering read-only domain controllers (RODCs) Checking forest health Collecting diagnostic data for technical support
Using Management Shell Creating virtual test environments Appendices
Frequently asked questions Best practices for using Computer Collections Technical characteristics Best practices for creating backups Best practices for creating backups for forest recovery Best practices for recovering a forest Descriptions of recovery or verification steps Ports Used by Recovery Manager for Active Directory Forest Edition (Disaster Recovery Edition) Backup Wizard Online Restore Wizard Online Restore Wizard for AD LDS (ADAM) Group Policy Restore Wizard Repair Wizard Extract Wizard Events generated by Recovery Manager for Active Directory

Remote Storage tab

This tab includes the following elements:

  • Save backups on the backed up DC or a UNC share. Select this check box to save backup files either on the domain controller being backed up or on the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) share you specify. Enter the location for backup files. If you specify a UNC share, backup files will be directly streamed to that share from Backup Agent installed on the DC being backed up. Backup Agent accesses the DC being backed up and/or the specified UNC share under the account specified on the Agent tab.

  • Primary Backup path:. Use the provided space to specify format for paths and names of files where to store backups. If you want to store backups on remote computers, the path must include UNC names. The path format may include optional expressions that enable the automatic creation of subfolders. The file name format may also include expressions. For example, you might specify \\RemoteHost\ShareName\%COMPUTERNAME%\%DATETIME%.

  • Expression. Click this button to specify path and file name notations in Backup path or Alternative backup path (optional). You can choose the following expressions:

    • Domain (%DOMAIN%). Name of the home domain of the computer being backed up.

    • Computer name (%COMPUTERNAME%). Name of the computer being backed up.

    • Date and Time (%DATETIME%). Date and time of the backup creation.

  • Sample path and file name matching the specified format:. View an example of the path and file name that matches the format string supplied in Backup path or Alternative backup path (optional).

  • Additional backup path (optional).

IMPORTANT

According to the Forest Recovery best practices, the RMAD Active Directory® backup should be stored on a domain controller. At the same time, the Additional backup path option allows you to store the same Active Directory® backup on remote backup storage. This can be useful if the DC is destroyed and you want to restore it from a BMR backup and the latest Active Directory® backup. The retention policy is applied to both backup paths. So, if you set it to 10, and you have both paths configured - it means that there will be 5 backups on DC and 5 backups on the remote storage.

  • Use the following account to access the backup storage:. Allows you to explicitly specify a user account that will be used to access the backup storage. This option lets you work with network shares from different security realms, such as Azure® Files or Linux shares.
NOTE

The backup storage account is used to access all remote storage backup locations. Currently, separate access accounts are not supported.

  • For each computer, delete all backups except the last:. Select this check box to retain a number of backups for each computer. Specify the number of backups to maintain. It is recommended to configure a backup retention policy to maintain backups created in the last two weeks . If you create backups on a daily basis specify 14 to maintain backups for each domain controller for two weeks.

    This check box can be selected only when RMAD stores backups separately. To ensure that RMAD does so, add the %DATETIME% expression to the path or file name in the Backup file name format box.

IMPORTANT

When the backup is triggered and any specified backup path is not available, no backup is created. The backup creation session will fail

 

Agent tab

NOTE

For Recovery Manager for Active Directory (RMAD) 10.1 or higher: Make sure that you use the Backup Agent version supplied with this release of Recovery Manager for Active Directory.

The Agent tab is used to specify settings for Backup Agent and Forest Recovery Agent.

Note

To install Forest Recovery Agent, the account under which Recovery Manager Console is running must be added to the Builtin\Administrators domain local group.

The elements of the Agent tab are defined as follows:

Note

You can configure Recovery Manager for Active Directory (RMAD) to back up data in an Active Directory® domain under a least-privileged user account and create a group named RMAD Backup Operators that will automatically grant the necessary permissions to back up data. See Using a least-privileged user account to backup data

  • Use the following account to access Backup Agent. Allows you to explicitly specify a user account under which you want the Recovery Manager Console to access Backup Agent. When this check box is cleared, the Recovery Manager Console uses the account under which it is running to access Backup Agent. To explicitly specify a user account, select this check box, and then click Select Account to specify the account credentials.
Note

Recovery Manager for Active Directory has deprecated support for a group managed service account (gMSA) to be specified as the account to connect to the backup agent for manually triggered backups. Managed service accounts will continue to be supported for scheduled backup tasks. In accordance with Microsoft®, it is recommended to not use a group managed service account (gMSA) for interactively initiated network connections such as Recovery Manager for Active Directory manually triggered backups. To enforce this recommendation and to address the vulnerability CVE-2023-21524 (https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2023-21524), Microsoft has limited the usages of managed service accounts with a Windows Update. By removing support for a gMSA to connect to the backup agent, this ensures an attacker does not exploit the RMAD backup agent to perform actions or access resources over the network. To utilize the benefits and security provided by a group managed service account (gMSA), we highly recommend that a gMSA account is used for the scheduled backup task. See Setting user account for scheduled tasks

  • Use preinstalled Backup Agent. Allows you to enable or disable the automatic installation of the Backup Agent. The next table explains how Recovery Manager for Active Directory behaves when this check box is selected or cleared.
Note

It is highly recommended and best practice to use a preinstalled backup agent. With preinstalled backup agents, Recovery Manager for Active Directory does not have to store highly privileged domain admin credentials for agent installation, thus increasing security of the product installation. For Recovery Manager for Active Directory 10.3 or higher this option is selected by default for all new computer collections. 

When the check box Use preinstalled Backup Agent is selected the product will have the following behavior:

  • RMAD backs up only those computers where the Backup Agent is preinstalled manually.

  • RMAD does not automatically install the Backup Agent on the computers in the Computer Collection.

  • RMAD automatically installs the Backup Agent before backing up a computer where the agent is not preinstalled manually.

  • When the backup operation completes, Recovery Manager for Active Directory removes the automatically installed Backup Agent.

  • If the Backup Agent was manually preinstalled on the computer to be backed up, RMAD will use that agent to back up data on the computer. RMAD does not remove preinstalled Backup Agent after the backup operation completes

For more information on how to install, update, and uninstall the Backup Agent or discover the Backup Agent instances that were manually preinstalled in your environment, see Managing Backup Agent.

  • Automatically configure Windows Firewall. Select this check box to have RMAD automatically configure Windows Firewall on target Windows Server® 2008-based or Windows Server® 2012-based DCs, so that RMAD can back up these DCs.

  • Ensure Forest Recovery Agent is deployed. Select this check box if you want the application to verify whether Forest Recovery Agent is installed on each domain controller the Collection includes. The application reinstalls Forest Recovery Agent, if necessary. For more information, see Using Forest Recovery Agent.

 

Secondary Storage tab

NOTE

All Secondary Storage functionality require a Recovery Manager for Active Directory Disaster Recovery Edition license. The tab will be disabled if license is not available.

This tab includes the following elements:

  • Enable a Secure Storage server. Select this check box to enable a Secure Storage server for a backup. After creation and saving of backup to primary storage locations, a copy of the backup will be saved to the Secure Storage server.

  • Select the radio button below Enable a Secure Storage server to choose the primary storage location for the backup file to be copied from. Select Copy backup from remote storage location to the selected Secure Storage server to pull the backup file from the remote storage location. Select Copy backup from local storage location to the selected Secure Storage server to pull backup file from the local storage location. If using both local and remote storage options for primary storage, the recommendation is to configure your Secure Storage server to communicate with the primary storage location closest for optimal network performance.

  • Copy backup from remote storage location to the selected Secure Storage server. Select the DNS name or IP address of a Secure Storage host.

  • Copy backup from local storage location to the selected Secure Storage server. Select the DNS name or IP address of a Secure Storage host.

  • Enable Cloud Storage and select Cloud Storage locations. Select this checkbox to enable Cloud Storage. After creation and saving of backup to primary storage locations, a copy of the backup will be made to the configured Cloud storage locations.

  • Select the checkbox for each registered Cloud Storage location to be used for this backup.

NOTE

Computer collections can also be selected on the Cloud Storage node.

Access Credentials For Reading Data

IMPORTANT

Access credentials are required for reading backups on primary storage to copy to Secure Storage and Cloud Storage. There may be some cases where credentials have to be specified for both remote and local storage based on the types of primary and secondary storage configured for the computer collection.

  • An account to read data from remote storage location. Select an account that has read permission to the remote storage location. This account will be used to read the backup from the remote storage location and copy to all secondary storage locations. The Secure Storage agent on the Secure Storage server and the Recovery Manager Cloud Upload service on the Recovery Manager console, use this account. If an account is incorrect and does not have the proper permissions, the copy of the backup to secondary storage will fail.

  • An account to read data from local storage location. Select an account that has read permission to the local storage location. This account will be used to read the backup from the local storage location and copy to all secondary storage locations. The Secure Storage agent on the Secure Storage server and the Recovery Manager Cloud Upload service on the Recovery Manager console, use this account. If an account is incorrect and does not have the proper permissions, the copy of the backup to secondary storage will fail.

 

Schedule tab

The Schedule tab is used to specify the backup creation scheduling.

On this tab, you can use the following elements:

  • Backup creation schedule. Displays a list of backup creation schedules for the currently selected Computer Collection.

  • Schedule enabled. Enables the backup creation schedules listed in the Backup creation schedule box. To disable the schedules, clear this check box. All the task schedules are retained, and you can enable them when needed by selecting this check box.

  • Modify. Modifies the Backup creation schedule list. In the dialog box that appears on the screen, specify new triggers or delete existing triggers.

  • User account the product will run under when creating backups. Identifies the user account under which Task Scheduler performs the backup creation task for the currently selected Computer Collection. To change the user account, click Select Account.

  • Select Account. Click this button to change the user account under which Task Scheduler performs the backup creation task for the currently selected Computer Collection.

 

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