Common Scenarios for Active Directory Related Backup and Disaster Recovery
(Or, Everything you ever wanted to know about AD DR Plans but couldn’t find in one place..)
As part of our Active Directory Risk Assessment Program we perform an Operational Interview portion of the engagement. During this we talk about things we can’t really ask the machines. Such as, SLA’s, OLA’s, DR Plans and various other things that involve humans more than computers but, are a vital part to the health and risk associated with an enterprise environment. One of the things that often come up are common scenarios in your Disaster Recovery plans. This came up for one of my customers and they asked me to compile information on how to handle these common topics. So I compiled a list of TechNet and KB articles that will hopefully help you guys plug these into your DR plans. (Even having the links to the online articles handy when a disaster comes up can save you time, money, frustration and sanity 
) Hope this helps!
- How to recover an Active Directory forest
Planning for Active Directory Forest Recovery
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/planning-active-directory-forest-recovery(WS.10).aspx
Word Doc of the entire Forest Recovery Whitepaper:
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=152459
- How to recover domains
Recovering Active Directory Domain Services
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816751(WS.10).aspx
- How to recover DNS
(Mostly covered in the Recovering Active Directory Domain Services article but additional info found here)
How to reinstall a dynamic DNS Active Directory-integrated zone
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/294328
- How to seize and transfer FSMO roles
Using Ntdsutil.exe to transfer or seize FSMO roles to a domain controller
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/255504
How to view and transfer FSMO roles in the graphical user interface
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/255690
- How to perform metadata cleanup
Clean Up Server Metadata (2008 & 2008R2)
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816907%28WS.10%29.aspx
Clean up server metadata (2000, 2003 & 2003R2)
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc736378(WS.10).aspx
- How to recover an entire server
Windows Server Backup Step-by-Step Guide for Windows Server 2008
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770266(WS.10).aspx
Performing a Full Server Recovery of a Domain Controller
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772519(WS.10).aspx
- How to perform authoritative restores
- Active Directory database
Performing Authoritative Restore of Active Directory Objects
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816878(WS.10).aspx
Performing Authoritative Restore of an Application Directory Partition
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816934(WS.10).aspx
- SYSVOL (requires special recovery procedures)
For DFS Replicated SYSVOL
Restoring and Rebuilding SYSVOL
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816596(WS.10).aspx
How to force an authoritative and non-authoritative synchronization for DFSR-replicated SYSVOL (like "D4/D2" for FRS)
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2218556
For FRS Replicated SYSVOL
Using the BurFlags registry key to reinitialize File Replication Service replica sets
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/290762
How to rebuild the SYSVOL tree and its content in a domain
- Successfully restoring users and their group memberships
How to restore deleted user accounts and their group memberships in Active Directory
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/840001
- How to perform non-authoritative restores
- Active Directory database
Performing Nonauthoritative Restore of Active Directory Domain Services
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816627(WS.10).aspx
- SYSVOL (requires special recovery procedures) (Note: Same articles as Authoritative Restore since they include both procedures in the info.)
For DFS Replicated SYSVOL
Restoring and Rebuilding SYSVOL
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816596(WS.10).aspx
How to force an authoritative and non-authoritative synchronization for DFSR-replicated SYSVOL (like "D4/D2" for FRS)
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2218556
For FRS Replicated SYSVOL
Using the BurFlags registry key to reinitialize File Replication Service replica sets
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/290762
How to rebuild the SYSVOL tree and its content in a domain
-Chris Rutledge