Actuelly we have installed two microsoft domain controllers (Win2K8R2) in our vmware infractructure (Two ESX 4.1 and the VMware Vcenter Server).
All our virtual mashines are backup through vcb and Backup Exec 12.5.
While vcb will not be supported in newer ESX versions we are upgrading to Backup Exec 2010 with VMware Agents, so the VMware API can be used.
How is the best practice for backing up those domain controllers.
Hello xadox...take a look, from Symantec
http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/what-best-practice-backing-virtualized-domain-controllers
it's the same on how you will backup a normal active directory server.
ok. So I just can make an online backup through the Backup Exec VMware Agent.
That's great.
An DC virtual machine it´s tha same than a physical machines
of course...make a normal backup and check the link of my post for best practices.
yes as simple as that.
Remeber that when you restore a backup of a DC , you'll need to put it into AD restore mode , or you'll have lots of fun and games.
My personal preference would be to use NTbackup to take a system state backup of the machine and copy it off to secure storage. That system state can be used to promote a DC is required.
While backing up the domain controller with Symantec AVVI I get an error on the Domain Controller in the Active Directory log:
ActiveDirectory_DomainService
EventID: 1168
Internal error: An Active Directory Domain Services error has occurred.
Additional Data
Error value (decimal):
-1032
Error value (hex):
fffffbf8
Internal ID:
160207d1