Chapter 11

This chapter dealt with maintaining and troubleshooting AD and recovering after a breakdown of the system. When AD databases update, it does so by writing changes to transaction buffers, which are stored on a server's RAM. Once enough transactions (change files) are built up (10MB), it gets written to a log file. This is then compared to the original file and written to memory. It serves as a checkpoint when recovering from a crash of a server or network. Like non-server computers, the AD database can become fragmented, and must be occasionally defragmented to maintain service and speed.It can be done either automatically online or offline, if the domain controller is running very slowly. Backing up AD was discussed next. Like normal server data, AD can be configured to back its database up on a schedule, or can be manually backed up. Restoring AD was next. Restorations can be done through replication, or the command line using wbadmin which can restore a domain controller to its previous setup to do a nonauthoritative restoration. Ntdsutil can be used to do an authoritative restoration, which can restore or repair an OU. This also restores all the objects within the OU via back links. Monitoring AD was next. As with the previous MOAC classes, the book went through how to setup and understand alerts using event viewer and the graphical reliability/performance monitor. The book discussed that the events recorded in these two tools should be monitored and traced in order to troubleshoot AD issues before they cause a critical stoppage.