Disaster Recovery

Has someone got or know where there is a good guide as to the best practices
recovery of a failed Windows 2003 server from backup using completely
different hardware for the new server?

Is it simply a case of using the same switch for exchange with setup
/disasterrecovery?

My question applies to a domain controller / catalogue server and a simply
file and print domain member server.

Someone once told me just build a new one and then recover the system state,
but I believe he was referring to recovering a virtual server in VMware.

Thanks.

 

Hello Phil,

In basic a complete recovery to different hardware mostly end's up in blue
screens, personal i never got it working, either with full backups or system
state only. Also it is not supported from MS.

See this document about:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249694/en-us

So you should have allways have at least 2 DC/DNS/GC per domain. For exchange
have at least the databases backed up and/or mailboxes from the users, so
you are able to rebuilt it. For print servers you can use printmigrator tool
to make backups after installing new printers and that you can also restore
to a new/different server.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
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> Has someone got or know where there is a good guide as to the best
> practices recovery of a failed Windows 2003 server from backup using
> completely different hardware for the new server?
>
> Is it simply a case of using the same switch for exchange with setup
> /disasterrecovery?
>
> My question applies to a domain controller / catalogue server and a
> simply file and print domain member server.
>
> Someone once told me just build a new one and then recover the system
> state, but I believe he was referring to recovering a virtual server
> in VMware.
>
> Thanks.
>

 

"Phil Angus" <novell@hammerplc.com> wrote in message
news:uRbo0LoyJHA.5032@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Has someone got or know where there is a good guide as to the best
> practices recovery of a failed Windows 2003 server from backup using
> completely different hardware for the new server?
>
> Is it simply a case of using the same switch for exchange with setup
> /disasterrecovery?
>
> My question applies to a domain controller / catalogue server and a simply
> file and print domain member server.
>
> Someone once told me just build a new one and then recover the system
> state, but I believe he was referring to recovering a virtual server in
> VMware.
>
> Thanks.
>

Restoring to different hardware is one of the most difficult tasks. However,
as a trainer, prior to the courseware's current use of VPCs, we used top
setup the classroom machines with an automated setup. However depending ont
he size of the class, it can take some time. To shorten the setup time, I
used Ghost to ghost an image of specific machines to get the class setup
started. However, where I used to work, each classroom had various brand
name machines.

I developed a system using the following article. This works for Windows XP,
Windwos 2000, and yes, Windows 2003. Create that MergeIDE file as described
in the article, apply it to the reg, and follow the instructions to copy the
specified files into their proper location. It forces Windows to scan for
new hardware at time of boot, therefore allowing you to bring the machine up
with whatever motherboard hardware type it is, basic VGA, IDE, keyboard and
mouse. It does not work with NIC, sound or specific video drivers, unless
Windows already has the driver built in.

For SCSI drivers, such as a PERC, etc, as long as the target machine has the
same type of controller, or you move the controller to the new hardware with
the drives, such as with RAID, and this of course depends on how different
the target is, in their respective locations, it will work.

The point of this is it will allow you to at least get the machine up and
running, then you finish off with NIC, video, etc. Just apply it once, and
as long as you backup the whole C: drive, and a System State backup (I do
them together in one job), any backup that you try to restore C: drive and
the System State, you can restore it to something different and it should
boot.

If Exchange is on it, and the full C drive restore and System state backup
doesn't work, then after you get the machine running, restore your Exchange
backup, which of course an Exchange Info Store backup should not be on the
same backup job with the System State job.

You Receive a Stop 0x0000007B Error After You Move the Windows XP System
Disk to Another Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/Q314082

Test it!

--
Ace

This posting is provided "AS-IS" with no warranties or guarantees and
confers no rights.

Ace Fekay, MCSE 2003 & 2000, MCSA 2003 & 2000, MCSA Messaging, MCT
Microsoft Certified Trainer
aceman@mvps.RemoveThisPart.org

For urgent issues, you may want to contact Microsoft PSS directly. Please
check http://support.microsoft.com for regional support phone numbers.

"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right
things." - Peter F. Drucker
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