Regular backing up of changes made to data in Microsoft Active Directory is an important exercise that each organization must follow. Changes made to Active Directory data may be on purpose by an administrator or by accident. Any changes made without the knowledge of the administrator can have cascading effects on the functioning of the Active Directory environment. Microsoft Active Directory offers back up and restore as a solution to these problems but there are limited capabilities that it has.
RecoveryManager Plus is a backup and restoration solution that helps in not only overcoming the limitations of native tools but also perform backup and recovery with great ease and simplicity.
The advantages of RecoveryManager Plus over native backup and recovery tools is explained in the tables below in four sections - inherent limitations of native backup tools, inherent limitations of native recovery tools, limitations of native AD recycle bin and other advantages of RecoveryManager Plus that guarantee high simplicity and efficiency in backup and recovery.
The built-in backup and recovery feature in Active Directory is great and comes as a lifesaver. However, there are certain limitations to it that make it cumbersome to perform backup and recovery and also track preferred versions. The following table gives the details.
Need | Native Backup and Recovery | RecoveryManager Plus |
---|---|---|
Granular Backup | No | Offers flexibility to select OUs or specific objects types or attributes to be backed up along with scheduling |
Incremental backup | No | Only the changed values are backed up thus minimizing backup time and improving efficiency |
Multiple backup frequencies | Offers only daily/hourly backups | Offers hourly, daily and weekly backups to best suit your organization |
Search backups for objects | No | Enables you to search for objects in backups by applying filters thus making the process quick and easy |
Backup location | Local drives or network shares only | Comes with the option of storing backup data in cloud, thus guaranteeing you the availability of backup anytime anywhere |
The native Active Directory recovery tool does not offer the flexibility and convenience that an administrator would require. The below table explains how RecoveryManager Plus overcomes the limitations that are imposed by native tools.
Need | Native Backup and Recovery | RecoveryManager Plus |
---|---|---|
Granular restoration | No | Enables you to restore the entire backup or a specific object or specific attribute |
Online Recovery | No | Enables you to perform backup and recovery of data online without restarting your DC |
Restore or Rollback | No | Restore one or more objects or attributes from an available backup or select a rollback point to restore all AD objects |
Review option | No | Get a preview of values to be restored and compare the current value in AD before confirming the rollback process |
Version Comparison | No | Offers the flexibility to view and compare values of object attributes across different versions of backups. This helps you to identify and locate the right set of values to be restored. |
Data Integrity | No | Restoration of complete data including tombstoned objects. |
RecoveryManager Plus goes beyond the native AD recycle bin feature offered in more ways than one. With the features explained in the below table, recycling deleted AD objects will no longer be a nightmare.
Need | AD Recycle Bin | RecoveryManager Plus |
---|---|---|
Complete restoration | Most of the attributes cannot be restored in domains running on pre-Windows Server 2008 R2. | Complete restoration of all backed up attributes can be done. This preserves all your data and saves time spent in manual entries. |
Hierarchical restore | Need to restore parent objects before restoring child objects | Restore the required object directly just by selecting the object. This saves tremendous amounts of time and effort in restoring objects. |
Searching deleted objects | Complicated. Need to use other tools to search, find and restore objects. | Find the deleted object easily by specifying details such as OU, time period and object name |
RecoveryManager Plus offers features that provide high convenience to administrators and thus make the backup and recovery processes highly efficient for the organization.
Feature | Native Backup and Recovery | Recovery Manager Plus |
---|---|---|
Change management | No | Track changes made to attributes or objects by versions and timestamp of changes. Undo changes such as delete, move, modification or creation. |
Version Management | No | Track the number of versions of backup for each object along with the values and the time of changes |
Compare Backups | No | Enables you to compare values across different versions of backups. This means you get to see the changes that have been made and quickly identify the right set of attributes to restore. |
Dashboard view of backups | No | Comprehensive view of the status and time of backups, number of backups and backup schedule |
Web-based interface | No | Provides the flexibility to be accesses from anywhere in your network. All you will need is a web browser! |
RecoveryManager Plus completely breaks down and simplifies the otherwise cumbersome and disorganized process of native backup and recovery. The product is complete in providing comprehensive views of backups and flexibility in scheduling and finding backups. It offers the convenience of viewing and comparing values across different versions of backups and selecting the desired version, all this with granularity. Features such as preview of values before rollback and nil DC downtime provide high levels of efficiency and seamless recovery of Active Directory data.
RecoveryManager Plus saves your organization a lot of time that is otherwise spent in scheduling and finding backups to be restored and also restarting a DC. Using RecoveryManager Plus, your organization can rest assured that no unwanted change or disaster would bring your organization to a grinding halt.