3. Prerequisites - Backups

Before you make any AD modifications we recommend you back up your AD schema and Directory Information Tree (DIT). You may already have standard procedures for this. If not, you should make a backup of the contents of the %WINDIR%\ntds directory to another location. This way you can drop the server (assuming Server 2003) into "Directory Server Recovery" mode and restore your previous AD data if you ever have to.

Note that the contents of that directory are in use when the server is running, so ordinary copy commands generally will not work. Some ways you can back up your AD information:

• make the backup in Directory Server Recovery Mode (press F8 while booting the AD host to enter Recovery Mode)
• use a backup utility such as the Backup applet that comes with Windows, or the ntbackup command-line equivalent (this does not require a reboot)
• use a utility to schedule a copy when the system is rebooted, such as SysInternals movefile (and then reboot to effect the copy)

Consult your Windows documentation for more information.

You may also wish to export your current LDAP hierarchy to an LDIF file for later reference, using a command like:

ldifde -f export-file -s servername -r "(objectclass=*)" -d "CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,domain-DN"