• Boot files
• Registry
• COM+ class registration database
• Active Directory files
• System Volume (SYSVOL)
• Certificates database (if running Certificate Server)

Back up the System State, which includes the Active Directory-related files on the domain controller. Here are the directions for backing up the System State using the MS Backup utility that comes installed on Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 computers.

Using a graphical user interface

1. Go to Start > All Programs (or Programs for Windows 2000) > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.
2. Click the Advanced Mode link.
3. Click the Backup tab.
4. Check the box beside System State.
5. Check the box beside any other files, directories, or drives you would also like to back up.
6. For Backup destination, select either File or Tape depending on where you want to back up the data.
7. For Backup media or file name, type either the name of a file or select the tape where to save the backup.
8. Click the Start Backup button twice.

Using a command-line interface

The NTBackup utility supports several command-line parameters that you can use to initiate backups without ever bringing up the GUI.

For the complete list of supported commands on Windows 2000, see MS KB 300439 (How to Use Command Line Parameters with the “Ntbackup” Command).

For the complete list of supported commands on Windows Server 2003, see MS KB 814583 (HOW TO: Use Command Line Parameters With the Ntbackup Command in Windows Server 2003).

The DHCP Server takes care of performing regular database backups, but you’ll still need to use a backup tool such as NTBackup to archive those backups on a regular basis. As long as you are backing up the %SystemRoot%\system32\dhcp directory and the system state (which includes the registry), you can restore the database and server configuration on the same server or on another server if necessary.

Using a graphical user interface

1. Open the DHCP snap-in on the target DHCP Server.
2. In the left pane, click the server node.
3. From the menu, select Action Backup.
4. Select the folder to store the backup files in and click OK.

Using a command-line interface

You can’t initiate a backup from netsh, but you can configure how frequently the automatic backups occur and where backup files are stored. The following command changes the default backup time to 24 hours (1,440 minutes):

> netsh dhcp server set databasebackupinterval 1440

The following command changes the backup location to d:\dhcp\backups:

> netsh dhcp server set databasebackuppath d:\dhcp\backups

You can also dump the DHCP Server configuration to a text file and import it later using netsh. Here is how you export it:

> netsh dhcp server dump > dhcpconfig.dmp

The dump option does not export any lease information.

#!/bin/sh

# archivedir – Creates a compressed archive of the specified directory.

maxarchivedir=10 # size, in blocks, of ‘big’ directory
compress=gzip # change to your favorite compress app
progname=$(basename $0)

if [ $# -eq 0 ] ; then
echo “Usage: $progname directory” >&2 ;exit 1
fi

if [ ! -d $1 ] ; then
echo “${progname}: can’t find directory $1 to archive.” >&2; exit 1
fi

if [ "$(basename $1)" != "$1" -o "$1" = "." ] ; then
echo “${progname}: You must specify a subdirectory” >&2
exit 1
fi

if [ ! -w . ] ; then
echo “${progname}: cannot write archive file to current directory.” >&2
exit 1
fi

dirsize=”$(du -s $1 | awk ‘{print $1}’)”

if [ $dirsize -gt $maxarchivedir ] ; then
echo -n “Warning: directory $1 is $dirsize blocks. Proceed? [n] ”
read answer
answer=”$(echo $answer | tr ‘[:upper:]‘ ‘[:lower:]‘ | cut -c1)”
if [ "$answer" != "y" ] ; then
echo “${progname}: archive of directory $1 canceled.” >&2
exit 0
fi
fi
archivename=”$(echo $1 | sed ’s/$/.tgz/’)”

if tar cf – $1 | $compress > $archivename ; then
echo “Directory $1 archived as $archivename”
else
echo “Warning: tar encountered errors archiving $1″
fi

exit 0

This script is almost all error-checking code, to ensure that it never causes a loss of data or creates an incorrect snapshot. In addition to the typical tests to validate the presence and appropriateness of the starting argument, this script also forces the user to be in the parent directory of the subdirectory to be compressed and archived, which ensures that the archive file is saved in the proper place upon completion. The conditional if [ ! -w . ] ; then verifies that the user has write permission on the current directory. And this script even warns users before archiving if the resultant backup file would be unusually large.

Finally, the actual command that archives the specified directory is

tar cf – $1 | $compress > $archivename

The return code of this command is tested to ensure that the script never deletes the directory if an error of any sort occurs.

This script should be invoked with the name of the desired directory to archive as its only argument. To ensure that the script doesn’t try to archive itself, it requires that a subdirectory of the current directory be specified as the argument, rather than “.”.

$ archivedir scripts
Warning: directory scripts is 2224 blocks. Proceed? [n] n
archivedir: archive of directory scripts canceled.

This seemed as though it might be a big archive, so I hesitated to create it, but thinking about it, there’s no reason not to proceed after all:

$ archivedir scripts
Warning: directory scripts is 2224 blocks. Proceed? [n] y
Directory scripts archived as scripts.tgz

The results:

$ ls -l scripts.tgz
-rw-r–r– 1 taylor staff 325648 Jul 14 08:01 scripts.tgz