Corrupt Active Directory 2003

[MilesAway]

I am having two servers here. Both are running on Windows 2003 R2 server. There are around 5 different client workstations configured on the network. I had configured AD and DNs which looks to be working fine. Somehow there was a issue with one server. After power failure a drive stopped working. Due to which I found AD has corrupted. I want some help here. How can I recover it. Is there a better option available.

[Fajardo]

Did you kept a backup of the same somewhere. Try to recover the same from it. I am giving you a link that has ample of information on backup and recovery.

Active Directory Backup and Restore

[McIntyre]

You have to first verify file. That backup file or the AD database. Whether it is corrupted or not. There is maximum chance of recovering the same. Later on once it is confirmed that the database is fine, you can simply switch to directory restore mode. Here you can select from authoritative and a non-authoritative mode. Once you had done with the recovery you have to again check all the functions of DC. Just ensure that things are working properly or not.

[tonybrough]

Hi All

I have just gained a new customer who has a SBS 2003 R2 server that he believed was being back up. Well it was all apart from system state!!!!

The server crashed last night, not sure why yet. When I boot the server I am unable to log onto the domain, just the computer. I have managed to log on in the DSRM, but like as in this thread the NTDS is corrupt.

WIll this (maybe) work on SBS 2003 R2? also you stated that

if repair is successful, delete all the files inside NTDS folder (.log and
..chk)
Does this mean ALL files in the NTDS folder or just the .log and .chk files.

Many thanks for reading

Regards

Tony

At the moment I don't have a machine to test those options, try the
following:
Do a backup of the original NTDS.dit database, and work on the other one:

To perform the integrity check, start a command prompt, type the following
command (including the quotation marks), and then press ENTER:
esentutl /g "path\ntds.dit" /!10240 /8 /o

To repair the database, type the following command (including the quotation
marks), and then press ENTER:
esentutl /p "path\ntds.dit" /!10240 /8 /o

if repair is successful, delete all the files inside NTDS folder (.log and
..chk)

Reboot the server.

--
I hope that the information above helps you.
Have a Nice day.

Jorge Silva
MCSE, MVP Directory Services

[IreneL]

Try Recovery Manager. You must always keep all the settings of this tool enable. In case of any problem this tool help you to restore all your functions. It is a ready to use tool that offer your AD recovery against power and hardware failure. It also works really well. There is no problem with the recover and backup.