PowerProtect Data Manager 19.16 File System User Guide

Active Directory Data Recovery at a Granular Level Overview

The PowerProtect Data Manager Active Directory Granular Level Recovery enhancement enables you to select a backup of an Active Directory (AD), browse and search the contents of the backup, and restore specific objects and attributes from the backup.

Active Directory stores information about objects on the network and makes this information easily accessible for administrators and users to find and use. AD undergoes a lot of changes every day, manually or by scripts in multiple ways like creating or modifying AD objects, accidentally deleting an AD object, or deleting multiple objects from a container. Protecting Active Directory objects against errors are crucial for the business. The AD Granular Level Recovery (GLR) enhancement helps in recovering individual AD objects and attributes in the event of data loss or corruption.

There are two ways to restore the AD data at a granular level:

• Performing centralized active directory data recovery using the PowerProtect Data Manager UI
• Self-service active directory data recovery using the command-line interface

Active directory has object types and classification. Object is the basic element of Active Directory. Objects have attributes that define and describe them. For example, the attributes of a user object might include the user's name, email address, and phone number. All objects of the same type or class have the same set of attributes, but they are distinguished from each other by having different values for at least one of these attributes. Some attributes are required to have values (First Name attribute of a user object), while other attributes can be optional (Telephone Number).

Active Directory Granular Level Recovery supports the following object types:

• User object - Required for users to log in the network.
• Computer object - Represent machines that belong to the domain.
• Container objects - These objects can contain other objects inside them, and we can make collection from them.
• Printer object - Pointers to printers on the network. If you create a network printer on a machine running Windows 2000, a related printer object is automatically created in Active Directory.
• Shared folder - Pointers to shared folders on a server on the network. If you create a shared folder on a computer running Windows 2000, an associated shared folder object is automatically created in Active Directory.
• Organizational Unit - Containers for organizing other objects in a hierarchical fashion.
• Group object - Collections of user accounts, computers, or other groups created for organizational purposes or for assigning permissions to shared resources.
• Group policy object - Group Policy Object (GPO) is a collection of settings that define the behavior of computers and users in an Active Directory environment. GPOs are used to enforce security policies, configure software settings, and manage user preferences across a group of computers or users.