Utilizing Active Directory snapshots in Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 is designed to allow administrators to take snapshots of the Active Directory database. As the name implies, a snapshot is simply an offline, read-only copy of the database.

Creating a snapshot prior to making any major Active Directory modifications gives you a copy of the database to fall back on should the need arise. This way you can compare settings within the live database against the settings contained in the copy. It's even possible to export data from the snapshot and into the live Active Directory database.

Creating an Active Directory snapshot

It may sound a little odd, but the first step in the AD snapshot process is to actually create the snapshot itself. To do so, open an elevated command prompt window and enter the following command:

NTDSUTIL "Activate Instance NTDS" snapshot create quit quit

As you can see in Figure A, though we are entering a single command, Windows actually interprets the individual parts as separate commands. You should be able to use the output from these commands to confirm that a snapshot was created.

Figure A (click to enlarge)
[IMAGE]

Mounting the snapshot

Once the snapshot has been created, it still must be mounted before it can be used. From your elevated command prompt, enter the following commands:

NTDSUTIL
Snapshot
List all

Typically you will see two Active Directory snapshots listed when you enter these commands. The first snapshot bears the current date and time. This is the snapshot that you have just created. If you look back at Figure A, you will notice that there is a line of text that says Snapshot Set {5062af3e-fa88-405c-9f80-b19d0764f706} generated successfully. This is the same number that follows the date on Snapshot 1. Therefo...