User guide

207 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2012
a. Dismount the databases.
b. Run Eseutil /K and review the verification results.
c. If the databases are consistent, mount them again and run the backup. Otherwise, repair the
damaged databases.
Refer to the "Transaction log truncation for Exchange Server" (p. 205) section for more
information about mounting and dismounting databases.
 After a backup. The advantage of this method is that you do not have to dismount the databases
that are in constant use. However, the consistency check in the backup is much slower than the
consistency check of the on-disk databases.
Mount (p. 164) volumes (containing the required database files) from the disk backup in the
"Read only" mode and run Eseutil /K.
If a checksum mismatch or file header damage is detected, repair the damaged databases and
then perform the backup again.
Tip. Acronis offers a dedicated product for backing up Microsoft Exchange – Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 for
Microsoft Exchange Server. When you use this product, Agent for Exchange automatically checks consistency of
the databases being backed up and skips the databases with a checksum mismatch or file header damage. As
opposed to this agent, Eseutil /K verifies the pages of all Exchange databases that are present on the server.
11.1.3.2 Active Directory backup
Active Directory services use a database located on the file system of a domain controller. If the
domain has two or more domain controllers, the information stored in the database is constantly
replicated between them.
Volumes to back up
To back up Active Directory, back up the following volumes of a domain controller:
 The system volume and the boot volume
 The volumes where the Active Directory database and the transaction logs (p. 202) are located
 The volume with the SYSVOL folder. The default location of this folder is
%SystemRoot%\SYSVOL. To determine the current location of this folder, examine the Sysvol
value in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters
Considerations for backup
When setting up and performing Active Directory backup, make sure that:
 You perform a backup at least monthly. If your domain has only one domain controller, we
recommend creating a backup at least daily.
 Your most up-to-date backup is no older than half the tombstone lifetime. Depending on the
operating system where your domain has been created, the default tombstone lifetime is 60
days or 180 days. It does not matter whether the latest backup is full or incremental; you can
perform a successful recovery from either one.
 You create an additional backup upon any of the following events:
 The Active Directory database and/or transaction logs were moved to a different location.
 An operating system on the domain controller was upgraded, or a service pack was installed.
 A hotfix that changes the Active Directory database was installed.