Active Directory® for Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Technical Reference

Installing Active Directory from Restored Backup Files

In Windows Server 2003 you have the ability to install an additional domain controller, using the Active Directory Installation Wizard, with the initial population of the three directory partitions being copied from the restore of a previously created backup set instead of across the network using the normal replication process. The benefit of this feature is that new domain controllers can be fully synchronized much faster. Otherwise, relying on the normal replication process to create the domain partitions may take hours or days. This method will most likely be used in environments with either low network bandwidth or very large directory partitions (or both). The process of installing from ...