Restoring Server Applications
Restarting the Domain Controller in Safe Mode
With the exception of Active Directory on Windows Server 2008, you cannot restore Active Directory in normal Windows mode. This is because the service is already active. Before restoring Active Directory on Windows Server 2003, you must boot your computer into safe mode. Once in safe mode, you can restore the Active Directory as an application. This is because in safe mode the Active Directory is disabled.
Note Do not boot your computer into safe mode when restoring Active Directory on Windows Server 2008 or higher.
To boot your computer into safe mode, perform the following steps:
Step 1 Boot your computer and press F5 or F8 after POST/BIOS and before the Windows
Step 2 Select the Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM).
Step 3 Login as Restore Mode Administrator.
Restoring Active Directory and System State
Restoring Active Directory will cause the loss of any changes to Active Directory since the date of the backup that is being restored.
SonicWALL recommends the use of redundant Active Directory domain controllers. In the case of mirrored Active Directory domain controllers, you can optionally restore a small part of the database rather than the entire database (for example, because some people were deleted by mistake by the administrator or a script/program), keeping the remainder of the database up to date. In this case, the administrator selects the old data that needs to be pushed on top of the latest data during replication, after the server (2003 only) is rebooted out of Recovery Mode.
Restoration steps can be different depending on the computer's operating system and configuration.
