Common System / Network Administrator Questions & Answers

What’s the difference between forward lookup zone and reverse lookup zone in DNS?

Forward lookup is name-to-IP address; the reverse lookup is IP address-to-name.

How to transfer roles in Active Directory?

Using Ntdsutil.exe we can transfer roles in Active Directory. To know more regarding role transfer click this link.

How to backup Active Directory and which main file you take in backing of Active Directory?

We can take backup with Ntbackup utility.

Active Directory is backed up as part of system state, a collection of system components that depend on each other. You must backup and restore system state components together.

Components that comprise the system state on a domain controller include:

• System Start-up Files (boot files). These are the files required for Windows 2000 Server to start.
• System registry.
• Class registration database of Component Services. The Component Object Model (COM) is a binary standard for writing component software in a distributed systems environment.
• SYSVOL. The system volume provides a default Active Directory location for files that must be shared for common access throughout a domain. The SYSVOL folder on a domain controller contains:
  • NETLOGON shared folders. These usually host user logon scripts and Group Policy objects (GPOs) for non-Windows 2000based network clients.
  • User logon scripts for Windows 2000 Professionalbased clients and clients that are running Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0.
  • Windows 2000 GPOs.
  • File system junctions.
  • File Replication service (FRS) staging directories and files that are required to be available and synchronized between domain controllers.
• Active Directory. Active Directory includes:
  • Ntds.dit: The Active Directory database.
  • Edb.chk: The checkpoint file.
  • Edb*.log: The transaction logs, each 10 megabytes (MB) in size.
  • Res1.log and Res2.log: Reserved transaction logs.