restarting active directory domain services

Restoring Active Directory databases that are more than 180 days old is generally not done and can lead to serious problems. Using restartable AD DS, esentutl, and ntdsutil, you can also perform offline defragmentation and semantic analysis of AD DS databases without having to restart domain controllers twice. Above all, it saves precious time in not requiring multiple reboots depending on your hardware platform, each reboot can easily add 1-5 minutes to your recovery timeline.

It also continues to authenticate with the rest of the domain just as any other domain member, allowing administrators to use domain-based credentials instead of a DSRM password. The difference between DSRM mode and the AD DS Stopped state is that in DSRM the domain controller runs more in a Safe Mode-type environment, whereas with AD DS Stopped, it remains an active domain member, continuing to offer all secondary services such as DHCP or WINS (services not offered are NTDS, KDC, FRS, and DNS-if it has AD-integrated zones). Restart AD DS using the net start ntds command (during execution of the command, all dependent services, including the File Replication Service, the Kerberos Key Distribution Center, Intersite Messaging, and the DNS Server, will be started automatically prior to starting AD DS service.) Use ntdsutil to mark the subtree for authoritative restore.Ĥ. (During execution of the command, all dependent services, including the File Replication Service, the Kerberos Key Distribution Center, Intersite Messaging, and the DNS Server, will be stopped after receiving a confirmation.)ģ. Stop AD DS using the net stop ntds command. So in order to perform authoritative restore, follow the steps:ġ. With restartable AD DS, administrators no longer need to reboot domain controllers into DSRM mode to perform any of the administrative tasks that may require taking AD DS offline. This introduces a key advantage over the process just described, without really breaking any functionality described so far. New in Windows Server 2008 is ability to restart Active Directory just as you restart any other system service.

Restarting active directory domain services