Strange request, but for all of the windows servers you admin in your environment, do (or could) they fall into "categories", if so could you share a list of the categories each fall under, i.e. file server, DC etc. Second part of the question is whether youve ever had to rank each into importance to your company? What is this process known as? Is there a tech term for it? And if youve done such an importance ranking process, which came out highest risk, which came out medium, which lowest? Can you provide some examples? And finaly - do servers fall into you guys idea of "infrastructure" or do you refer to them as somthing else. I am trying to picture a network in tiers i.e. as 1) applications (i.e. payroll app, finance app, procurement app), <<<2) middle tier/servers??>>>, and then the core infrastructre like switches etc. What do you refer to that layer as?

Hello, categries you can easy choose yourself. Well-known are DCs, File-Print, Cluster, Remote Desktop, Mail, Web, Application, Database servers. In a domain of course the DCs are highly important BUT as long as you have installed other server roles/applications of course these are also important for your company. So a good backup plan is required at least for all servers you install for the company. Highest level i would see the DCs as all other servers/services rely on this. Therefore at least 2 DC/DNS/GC are recommended. But also the other above mentioned server roles are important for backup. If you use servers into infrastructure or not depends on you. I think yes the underlying hardware is infrastructure as routers, switches, UPS etc. But a server OS is not infrastructure, keep in mind that virtualization becomes more and more important, so the server itself is also just a collection of files.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.

Hello, categries you can easy choose yourself. Well-known are DCs, File-Print, Cluster, Remote Desktop, Mail, Web, Application, Database servers. In a domain of course the DCs are highly important BUT as long as you have installed other server roles/applications of course these are also important for your company. So a good backup plan is required at least for all servers you install for the company. Highest level i would see the DCs as all other servers/services rely on this. Therefore at least 2 DC/DNS/GC are recommended. But also the other above mentioned server roles are important for backup. If you use servers into infrastructure or not depends on you. I think yes the underlying hardware is infrastructure as routers, switches, UPS etc. But a server OS is not infrastructure, keep in mind that virtualization becomes more and more important, so the server itself is also just a collection of files.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.