Taking Active Directory Snapshots on Windows Server 2008

Well, the other day I saw this in an official Microsoft doc and it had to be tested. It refers to being able to take snapshots of our Active Directory, for the simple fact of taking it to another computer and performing some tests with LDAP tools for example, or to see how our Active Directory was doing at any given time, in case we have to do an authoritative AD restore and we don't know what an object or container is called (HTTP://www.bujarra.com/?p=1593), or to use with ADrestore to find out what a Tombstone is called (HTTP://www.bujarra.com/?p=1567)… In any case, it is not advisable to have many snapshots that are not going to be used due to loss of performance.

Doing an Authoritative Restore of Active Directory on Windows Server 2008

Well, ahora veremos una pequeña diferencia con el otro tipo de restauración, esta es una restauración autoritativa. Para realizar esta restauración es obligatorio haber realizado antes una restauración no autoritativa (HTTP://www.bujarra.com/?p=1582). Con esta restauración lo que realizamos es una replicación de los objetos que acabamos de restaurar a los otros controladores de dominio, indicando que ‘nuestro’ Directorio Activo es el origen de la réplica. Para realizar está restauración, no debemos reiniciar el servidor DC tras la restauración no autoritativa.

Doing a non-authoritative restore of Active Directory on Windows Server 2008

GOOD, In this document we will see how we can restore our Active Directory backup in case we need it to recover from a catastrophe. To do this,, We will need a backup of the system state (HTTP://www.bujarra.com/?p=1574) or a full copy of the server. This is called performing a non-authoritative restore of Active Directory, since we will not indicate which objects we want it to forcibly replicate to the other domain controllers.

Using AdRestore to recover Tombstone items

What is a Tombstone? Well, when we delete an object in the Active Directory it is not deleted directly, if not, the attribute 'isDeleted' is checked’ as 'True’ and is hidden from the normal view of AD consoles in addition to moving to the 'Deleted Objets' container. Eye, almost all but the most important attributes like GUID and SID are deleted. These objects remain in the Active Directory as Tombstone's until after 90 days, once this time has elapsed they are eliminated by the 'Garbage collector'. What is the Garbage Collector? It is a process that runs the Active Directory by default every 12 hours, although this parameter is modifiable in the attribute 'garbageCollPeriod'’ in the configuration object (NTDS). This, apart from removing the Tombstone's, also defragments the Active Directory. All of this comes in handy when using the Sysinternals AdRestore tool, since this utility allows us to […]

Installing and Configuring 3CX VoIP PBX with Linksys SPA3102 Gateway

In this document I will explain the basic installation and configuration of the 3CX free PBX as well as the configuration of the Linksys SPA3102 Gateway to allow incoming and outgoing calls from a PSTN analog line. First of all, Get the files to install. You have the free version on the official 3CX website (HTTP://www.3cx.es/). The PBX can be installed on a WinXP or Server2003 machine. In theory, also about Vista and 2008 but personally, I haven't tried them. We will run the services on a WinXP and test the client with a View. Prior to installation, we must have available in the .Net Framework 2.0.

Using RVTools to facilitate our virtual administration

Vtools is ideal for managing our VMware Infrastructure-based virtual environment, or what is the same, for VMware VirtualCenter or VMware ESX server, only supports version 2.x of VirtualCenter and 3.x of lost host ESX. With this free tool, we can manage generic information about virtual machines, your virtual CPU's, your virtual RAM, Your Virtual Hard Drives, Your Virtual Networks, your virtual CD drives, Virtual floppy drives, Snapshots and the most important thing for me, The status of VMware Tools!!! So we can both disconnect CD drives or floppy drives and update the VMware Tools together!!