In this article you will learn how to develop a backup and recovery solution. Data has become a firm's most valuable asset, and it is your job to protect this data from accidental loss. remember the fundamental questions to ask when developing a solution. What should be backup? What is the recovery point? What is the time frame for recovery? What is the risk tolerance,if any,of the firm? Finding the answers to these questions will help you develop a plan that is appropriate for your firm.

Microsoft Windows includes a very basic but very capable backup solutions, Backup utility for windows. Backup utility for windows now includes the ability to backup data to a file and place the data on a network share, removable media, or other hardware device,such as tape drive. An entire drive, volume, folder, or individual file can be backed up. Also the registry, critical boot files, and active directory can be backed up by selecting to backup system state data.

In case of failure, the system state data can be restored to recover active directory. Under normal circumstances, a domain controller replicates with other domain controllers upon startup, and any changes in active directory are replicated to the domain controller. In case of accidental deletion of active directory object, an authoritative restore can be performed to restore a particular object. By using ntdsutil, a particular object can be authoritatively restores, without disregarding other changes in active directory.

Occasionally servers become sick and have boot failures. Some times a boot failure is due to a hardware failure, such as bad memory, a hard drive failure, or motherboard failure. In these situations, the hardware must be replaced before you can trouble shoot the operating system. In some cases, windows will even have to re-installed. However, there are plenty of situations in which the operating system is not working correctly due to mis-configurations or other software issue. In these situations, the advanced boot options can be used to restore a server to full functionality quickly and easily. In previous version of windows, an emergency repair repair disks was provided to recover from major failure. Microsoft Windows one implements an automated system recovery (ASR) process. Using ASR is an easy way to restore a server to previous operational state. Am ASR disk is created by using backup utility for windows.