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Recovery Manager for AD Forest Edition 10.3.1 - 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 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 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

Full Replication

Recovery Manager for Active Directory (RMAD) provides an ability to switch from the initial Recovery Manager Console to the alternate instance of the console in case of any system failure, e.g. hardware failure. The Full replication feature lets you create a full copy of the initial console settings on the console that is used as a replication target, so that the target console can fully take over the initial console and perform exactly the same operations.

This functionality is based on the Recovery Manager Remote API Access service (installed by default) and PowerShell® commands. When the Full replication feature is enabled, the current console connects to the Recovery Manager Remote API Access service on the remote RMAD console, then imports the data, e.g. collection information, backup schedule task information, backup information, etc.

NOTE

The TCP port 52132 is required for Recovery Manager Remote API Access service.

Which settings are replicated?

  • Global settings

  • Computer collection settings, including the retention policy setting

  • Computer collections

  • Secure Storage servers

  • Backup schedule task

  • Backup information

    • Backup information only, not the backup files.

    • If the path of backup is an absolute path ( e.g. "C:\backups\b1.bkf", it will be changed to the UNC path (e.g. "\\CurrentConsoleName\C$\ backups\b1.bkf").

    • Secure Storage backup information.

NOTE:

  • The replication sessions will be retained for a default of 10 days. To set a different retention time, create a registry key, "ReplicationSessionLimitDays" in HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\ Quest\Recovery Manager for Active Directory and set the key to the number of days required (decimal).

  • You can specify a fallback account which will be used for replacing accounts in backup schedule tasks if these accounts cannot be replicated to the local console. It is recommended to specify a fallback account if backup schedule tasks use a regular Active Directory account, a local account or a gMSA account that cannot be resolved on the local console. Otherwise, the replication will fail.

  • If the backup schedule account is a domain user or local user, it will be changed to "SYSTEM".

  • If the user account is Managed Service Account (in Windows Server® 2008 or higher) or Group Managed Service Account (in Windows Server® 2012 or higher), make sure that the account works in the current console. Otherwise, it will be changed to "SYSTEM" too.

  • All backups schedules are disabled after the replication.

For details on how to create a gMSA account, see Using Managed Service Accounts.

Configure the full replication in Recovery Manager Console

This section describes how to create a full copy of the initial console settings on the local instance of Recovery Manager Console and switch to the local console in case of the initial console failure.

NOTE

Backups themselves are not replicated to the remote console and only information about the Backups of Active Directory which include the domain controller, domain, date of the backup and the size and location of the source backup.

IMPORTANT:

  • It is recommended to use the full replication between consoles in the same datacenter to quickly switch to the target console in case of the initial console goes down.

  • Single replication source mode: you can add several remote consoles to the replication list, but only one remote (initial) console can be used for replication.

  • All discovered Backup Agent instances on the local console are deleted during the Full replication. The data from the initial console completely rewrite all other local data (collections, collection properties, etc).

  • After the replication, data on the target console is read-only, but you can perform the compare and restore operations using this console.

  • It is recommended that you schedule the backup tasks and the replication task so that they do not overlap.

To add a remote (initial) console to the local (replication target) console and force the replication

  1. Open the local RMAD console.

  2. Right-click Remote Consoles under the Replication node and select Add Console.

  3. In the Add Replication Console dialog, specify a host name where the RMAD console that will be used as a replication source is installed.

  4. Replication mode provides the following options.

    • Replicate backup information only (Backup mode)

    • Replicate backup information, collections, global settings and schedule (Full mode). Set Fallback account for performing schedule replication. The Fallback Account is a pre-configured account for replacing the account that is used by the backup creation task. Select Do not specify credentials which if chosen then only System or gMSA accounts that are available on both master and slave console machines will be kept after replicating backup tasks. Select Use the following credentials to add another account that has administrator privileges on the systems to be backup up.

    • Click the Replicate forest recovery project files check box to replicate the Forest Recovery Project files to the console. Click on the Configure button to specify the location of the Source project files (.frproj) and specify the Target folder location for the project files (.frproj).

  5. Supply the credentials for the replication task. These credentials will be used to connect the source console that you have just added.

    • The account used for the replication task must be a member of the local Administrators group on the local and remote RMAD consoles.

    • The account must be a member of the Domain Users group on each target domain.

    • The account must be a member of the local Administrators group on the computer hosting the AD LDS (ADAM) instances.

  6. Now the source console instance is added and shown in the right pane.

  7. Set the console replication status to Enabled in the right pane.

  8. To start the replication, right-click Remote Consoles and press Replicate.

    Resources/Images/full_rep2.png

  9. To change the console properties, right-click the console instance from the list in the right pane and select Properties.

  10. To remove the console instance from the replication console list, right-click the instance and click Remove.

IMPORTANT

To activate the target console in case of the initial console failure, go to the Remote Consoles node and set the replication status of the initial console to Disabled in the right pane. This action turns off the read-only mode on the target console and the console completely takes over the functions of the initial one.

Replication status

  • If the data replication is finished successfully, the status in the console instances list is changed to "Success".

  • The replication may fail with the error "Cannot connect to Recovery Manager for Active Directory on the specified computer." in the following cases:

    • If the target computer does not exist or RMAD is not installed on the specified host.

    • If the Recovery Manager Remote API Access service has stopped

    • If you experience network connection problems

    • If the account that is used for the replication task is blocked, etc.

To view the replication history
NOTE

Backups themselves are not replicated to the remote console and only information about the Backups of Active Directory which include the domain controller, domain, date of the backup and the size and location of the source backup.

  1. Open the local Recovery Manager for Active Directory console.

  2. Click History under the Replication node to view the list of replication sessions.

  3. If you click a replication session, the right pane shows all remote consoles that are involved in the specified replication session.

  4. To remove one or more replication sessions from the list, right-click the session node and select Delete. Multi-select is possible.

To create a replication schedule

  1. In the RMAD console, right-click the Remote Consoles node under the Replication node and select Properties.

  2. In the Replication Properties dialog, you can create the replication schedule. For that, click Modify…, then click New… in the Recovery Manager Replication Job dialog to create a trigger for the schedule.

  3. Make sure that the Schedule enabled option is selected in the Replication Properties dialog.

  4. Provide a user account that will be used to start the replication schedule task using Select Account… in the Replication Properties dialog. Minimum requirements for the account are listed above depending on the replication mode.

  5. Click OK.

Note

You can specify Managed Service Account (in Windows Server® 2008 or higher) or Group Managed Service Account (in Windows Server® 2012 or higher) to run the replication schedule task. Note that you must add the dollar character at the end of the account name (e.g. domain\computername$) and leave the Password field blank. This account must be a member of the local Administrator group on the RMAD machine.

 

Consolidating backup registration data

When there are two or more instances of the Recovery Manager Console deployed in your environment, each of these instances has its own dedicated backup registration database that stores information about created backups. Recovery Manager for Active Directory (RMAD) allows you to consolidate backup information from multiple backup registration databases on a single RMAD computer. The main user scenario for using this functionality is to make this data available to Forest Recovery Console. So, Forest Recovery Console must be installed together with Recovery Manager Console on the computer that hosts consolidated backup database to access and use the backup files created by all other RMAD instances installed in your environment.

This functionality as well as the Full replication feature is based on the Recovery Manager Remote API Access service (installed by default) and PowerShell® commands. When the backup replication is enabled, the current console connects to the Recovery Manager Remote API Access service on the remote RMAD console, then imports the data.

NOTE

The TCP port 52132 is required for Recovery Manager Remote API Access service.

Configure replication of backup information in Recovery Manager Console

This section describes how to configure replication of backup information from remote consoles to the local backup storage.

IMPORTANT:

  • It is recommended to use this option for consoles that reside in geographically remote datacenters.

  • Consolidating backups does not affect the backup files.

  • Replication of backup information is one way. If you need to configure two-way replication, you should configure it explicitly in both instances of Recovery Manager Console.

  • Several remote consoles can be used simultaneously as replication sources.

  • In this mode, the local console is fully functional during the backup replication.

  • Local backups are consolidated with the backups from remote consoles.

  • It is recommended that you schedule the backup tasks and the replication task so that they do not overlap.

To add a remote console to the local console and force the replication of backup information

  1. Open the local Recovery Manager for Active Directory console.

  2. Right-click Remote Consoles under the Replication node and select Add Console.

  3. In the Add Replication Console dialog, specify a host name where the RMAD console that will be used as a replication source is installed.

  4. Select Replicate backup information only (Backups mode). This option lets you replicate backup information from the replication source.

    Resources/Images/backup_rep_1.png

  5. Supply the credentials for the replication task. These credentials will be used to connect the source console that you have just added.

  6. Now the source console instance is added and shown in the right pane.

  7. Set the console replication status to Enabled in the right pane.

  8. To start the replication, right-click Remote Consoles and press Replicate. This option forces the replication for all consoles in the list, not only for the selected one .

    Resources/Images/backup_rep2.png

  9. To change the console properties, right-click the console instance from the list in the right pane and select Properties.

  10. To remove the console instance from the replication console list, right-click the instance and click Remove.

Replication status

  • If the data replication is finished successfully, the status in the console instances list is changed to "Success".

  • The replication may fail with the error "Cannot connect to RMAD on the specified computer." in the following cases:

    • If the target computer does not exist or RMAD is not installed on the specified host.

    • If the Recovery Manager Remote API Access service has stopped

    • If you experience network connection problems

    • If the account that is used for the replication task is blocked, etc.

To view the replication history

  1. Open the local RMAD console.

  2. Click History under the Replication node to view the list of replication sessions.
    The list shows the replication sessions for the past 10 days by default. To change the default number of days, edit the value of the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Quest\Recovery Manager for Active Directory\Synchronization\ReplicationSessionLimitedDays

  3. If you click a replication session, the right pane shows all remote consoles that are involved in the specified replication session.

  4. To remove one or more replication sessions from the list, right-click the session node and select Delete. Multi-select is possible.

To create a replication schedule

  1. In the RMAD console, right-click Remote Consoles under the Replication node and select Properties.

  2. In the Replication Properties dialog, you can create the replication schedule. For that, click Modify…, then click New… in the Recovery Manager Replication Job dialog to create a trigger for the schedule.

    Resources/Images/rep_prop.png

  3. Make sure that the Schedule enabled option is selected in the Replication Properties dialog.

  4. Provide a user account that will be used to start the replication schedule task using Select Account… in the Replication Properties dialog. Minimum requirements for the account are listed above depending on the replication mode.

  5. Click OK.

Note

You can specify Managed Service Account (in Windows Server® 2008 or higher) or Group Managed Service Account (in Windows Server® 2012 or higher) to run the replication schedule task. Note that you must add the dollar character at the end of the account name (e.g. domain\computername$) and leave the Password field blank. This account must be a member of the local Administrator group on the RMAD machine.

 

Recovering an Active Directory forest

 

Forest recovery overview

In general, a forest recovery is necessary if none of the domain controllers in the forest can function normally or if the corrupted domain controllers can spread dangerous data to other domain controllers. Some examples of forest-wide failures include:

  • None of the domain controllers can replicate with its replication partner.

  • Changes cannot be made to Active Directory® at any domain controller.

  • New domain controllers cannot be installed in any domain.

  • All domain controllers have been logically corrupted or physically damaged to a point that business continuity is impossible (for instance, all business applications that depend on Active Directory® are non-functional).

  • A rogue administrator has compromised the Active Directory® environment.

  • An adversary intentionally or an administrator accidentally runs a script that spreads data corruption across the Active Directory® forest.

  • An adversary intentionally or an administrator accidentally extends the Active Directory® schema with malicious or conflicting changes.

Important

When you encounter the symptoms of a forest-wide failure, work with Microsoft Customer Support Service to determine the cause of the failure and evaluate any possible remedies. Because of the complexity and critical nature of the forest recovery process, the recovery of the entire Active Directory® forest should be viewed as a last resort. Please consult Microsoft Customer Support Service before you take a definitive decision.

 

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