I guess this question is for the NTBackup feature found in Windows 2000, 2003, etc. Should I back up the SYSVOL directory in addition to System State in order to get a COMPLETE System state backup? Secondly, is a System State backup considered to be a "dirty" backup instead of a "clean" or "cold" backup? In other words, since the AD is technically still running and there are transactions happening, the AD is never fully offline. Or am I wrong?

Hello, see here about content and handling: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785306(v=ws.10).aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781353(v=ws.10).aspx And the system state is the MINIMUM backup you need to restore a DC or objects.Best regards Meinolf Weber MVP, MCP, MCTS Microsoft MVP - Directory Services My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/ Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

NTBackup System State data include: Component When this component is included in System State? Registry Always COM+ Class Registration database Always Boot files, including the system files Always Certificate Services database If it is a Certificate Services server Active Directory directory service If it is a domain SYSVOL directory Only if it is a domain controller Cluster service information If it is within a cluster IIS Metadirectory If it is installed System files that are under Windows File Protection Always For more information please refer to following MS articles:  Back up System State data http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781353(v=WS.10).aspx System State data http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785306(v=ws.10).aspx Thanks

Ok it looks like Sysvol is included. Do you know if DHCP and DNS are also included? If that is the minimum, what else would there be that is important to back up? Other than Windows files

Hello, DNS is only included if you use AD integrated DNS zones. And DHCP is NOT included. Important is all that YOU need in your network, especially user data and application database files, SQL for example, etc. Without knowing what you have this is too difficult to see, so please provide more finos about the used OS versions and server roles and installed applications.Best regards Meinolf Weber MVP, MCP, MCTS Microsoft MVP - Directory Services My Blog: http://msmvps.com/blogs/mweber/ Disclaimer: This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights.

The DC is just that - a DC. It does run Certificate services but that is already a part of the System State. There is only one AD-integrated zone, the rest primary and secondary but then a copy of the DNS directory should take care of that. Or dnsdump DHCP.mdb and configuration in registry is exported as well. I think this covers all bases.

Meinolf Weber's advice is good.Jeff Ren TechNet Community Support beneficial to other community members reading the thread.