Backing up Active Directory is essential to maintain the proper health of the AD database.

Windows Server 2003: You can backup Active Directory by USING the NTBACKUP tool that comes built-in with Windows Server 2003 or use any 3rd-party tool that supports this FEATURE.

Windows Server 2008: In Server 2008, there isn’t an option to backup the System State data through the normal backup utility. We need to use the command line to backup Active Directory.

1. Open up your command prompt by clicking Start, typing “cmd” and then hit Enter.
2. In your command prompt, TYPE “wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:e:” and press Enter.
3. Input “y” and press Enter to start the backup process.

When the backup process has finished you should get a message that the backup completed successfully. If it did not complete properly you will need to troubleshoot.

Backing up Active Directory is essential to maintain the proper health of the AD database.

Windows Server 2003: You can backup Active Directory by using the NTBACKUP tool that comes built-in with Windows Server 2003 or use any 3rd-party tool that supports this feature.

Windows Server 2008: In Server 2008, there isn’t an option to backup the System State data through the normal backup utility. We need to use the command line to backup Active Directory.

1. Open up your command prompt by clicking Start, typing “cmd” and then hit Enter.
2. In your command prompt, type “wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:e:” and press Enter.
3. Input “y” and press Enter to start the backup process.

When the backup process has finished you should get a message that the backup completed successfully. If it did not complete properly you will need to troubleshoot.