Bare Metal Backup Test on a VM (Prove the Backup Actually Restores)
An untested backup is not a backup. This post is the test. We’ll create a bare-metal backup of a disposable lab VM — not just system state, but the full…
Tag: Backup
Schedule Automatic Backup in Windows Server 2022
Manual backups are practice. Scheduled backups are what actually saves you when a DC dies at 3 AM. Part 1 covered the one-shot system state backup; this post automates the…
Backup the Active Directory Database (System State + wbadmin)
If you only ever do one Active Directory backup, it’s the system state backup. System state pulls everything AD needs to come back from scratch — the NTDS.DIT database, SYSVOL,…
Backup and Restore Group Policy Objects (GPOs)
GPOs can be deleted in two clicks; AD replicates the deletion to every DC, SYSVOL files vanish, and clients drop the policy at next refresh. AD Recycle Bin restores the container in AD but not the SYSVOL GPT files where the actual policy settings live - so per-GPO backup is its own discipline. Walks the full GPMC lifecycle: Back Up All... for a fleet snapshot, Back Up... for one GPO before a risky edit, Manage Backups... for preview-then-restore (View Settings opens an HTML report, Restore overwrites the live GPO), and the manual re-link step that the backup does NOT capture. Plus the PowerShell-only equivalent (Backup-GPO -All / Restore-GPO -Name) for scheduled / scripted use. Includes the four pitfalls (no description = uninformative Manage Backups list, backup-on-the-DC-fails-with-the-DC trap, untested-backup wishful thinking, View-Settings-first habit) and the link-map documentation gotcha.
Manage Hyper-V VM Checkpoints
How Hyper-V checkpoints actually work (differencing-disk chain), when to use them (lab rollback, patch dry-run, demo reset, short-term oh-no insurance), why they aren't a backup, the Production vs Standard distinction (default Production - app-consistent via VSS - safe for most workloads except DC/SQL/Exchange replicas), the GUI flow for create / revert / apply / merge, the Edit Disk wizard for manual merge of orphaned chains, the PowerShell equivalents (Checkpoint-VM, Restore-VMSnapshot, Remove-VMSnapshot), and 7 common pitfalls (don't snapshot a DC, USN rollback, long-lived checkpoints, disk-space crunch, revert vs running VM).
Linux Archives & Compression: tar, gzip, xz, zstd, zip
Working reference for Linux archives and compression. tar bundles, gzip / bzip2 / xz / zstd / lz4 squeeze - speed vs ratio trade-offs (zstd as modern Pareto-optimal default, gzip for compatibility, xz for tightest), tar create / extract / list flags (c / x / t / f / v / z / j / J / a auto-detect), the c-vs-x mnemonic, common --exclude patterns, the zcat / zless / zgrep family for working with compressed files in place, zip for cross-platform Windows-friendly archives, 7z for strong AES encryption, recipes (timestamped backups, archive verification, streaming over SSH, parallel compression with pigz / pbzip2 / zstd -T0). Pitfalls: tar c-vs-x mixup, recursive backup-includes-itself, re-compressing already-compressed media, xz memory hunger on small VMs, gzip removing the original.
Cisco IOS File Management & Maintenance: Backup, Archive, Rollback
Working reference for Cisco IOS file management. The running vs startup config distinction (RAM vs NVRAM) and copy run start as the most-forgotten command, backing up to TFTP / FTP / SCP including credential setup, the file system layout (flash, nvram, system, tftp:, scp:, usbflash0), running the router itself as a TFTP server, the archive feature for automatic config snapshots with path / write-memory / time-period, configure replace for non-disruptive rollback (it computes the diff vs copy which is additive only), archive log config for audit logging with hidekeys redaction, verify /md5 for IOS image integrity, and the pitfalls (TFTP file-must-exist trap, plaintext FTP creds, insufficient flash before image upgrade).
Back Up and Restore the Windows Registry
Step-by-step guide to backing up and restoring the Windows registry: open Registry Editor, choose File > Export, pick All or a single branch, save the .reg file, and restore later via File > Import or by right-clicking the .reg file and choosing Merge - including the Safe Mode workflow when Windows will not boot.