Schema Restore

I am about to install Exchange 2007 SP2 which requires an AD Schema upgrade.
I am reading around the subject of upgrading the schema along with restoring
AD. Although I have performed Normal and Authoritative restores I have never
been involved in a schema upgrade before. If needed how do I recover from a
schema problem? Would I need to recover the whole domain from backup inorder
to recover the schema?

Howdie!

On 30.04.2010 09:59, Kevin Gallagher wrote:
> I am about to install Exchange 2007 SP2 which requires an AD Schema upgrade.
> I am reading around the subject of upgrading the schema along with restoring
> AD. Although I have performed Normal and Authoritative restores I have never
> been involved in a schema upgrade before. If needed how do I recover from a
> schema problem? Would I need to recover the whole domain from backup inorder
> to recover the schema?

You'll have to go through a Forest Recovery. The cannot roll back Schema
changes once they're made. So ... if there's a problem with a Schema
change, you restore the Schema Master with an backup of the "old" Schema
and rebuild all other DCs.

Cheers,
Florian

Although upgrading a schema is nerve racking, I personally have never seen
or heard of an instance where rollback was required. Once 2003 came along
you are able to disable schema extensions.
In order to rollback an extension, you would have to recover one dc and shut
down and rebuild ALL other dc's. In other words an extremely monumental
job. I just finished extending my production domain to 2008 R2, I spent
months testing different scenarios prior to the extension. You can never
test everything but try and think of as many ways in which your
applications/systems could be impacted and build them out in a test lab for
trial. Otherwise your production network is just another test lab.

--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCITP - Enterprise Administrator
MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, Security +, BS CSci
2008, Vista, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4
Microsoft's Thrive IT Pro of the Month - June 2009

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewGroups. This
posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.
"Kevin Gallagher" <Kevin > wrote in
message news:52B55754-3D42-45A1-B252-...
>I am about to install Exchange 2007 SP2 which requires an AD Schema
>upgrade.
> I am reading around the subject of upgrading the schema along with
> restoring
> AD. Although I have performed Normal and Authoritative restores I have
> never
> been involved in a schema upgrade before. If needed how do I recover from
> a
> schema problem? Would I need to recover the whole domain from backup
> inorder
> to recover the schema?

Thanks for the advice. I have backups and have tested my AD restores. I will
trial the process in my test environment first.

"Paul Bergson [MVP-DS]" wrote:

> Although upgrading a schema is nerve racking, I personally have never seen
> or heard of an instance where rollback was required. Once 2003 came along
> you are able to disable schema extensions.
> In order to rollback an extension, you would have to recover one dc and shut
> down and rebuild ALL other dc's. In other words an extremely monumental
> job. I just finished extending my production domain to 2008 R2, I spent
> months testing different scenarios prior to the extension. You can never
> test everything but try and think of as many ways in which your
> applications/systems could be impacted and build them out in a test lab for
> trial. Otherwise your production network is just another test lab.
>
> --
> Paul Bergson
> MVP - Directory Services
> MCITP - Enterprise Administrator
> MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, Security +, BS CSci
> 2008, Vista, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4
> Microsoft's Thrive IT Pro of the Month - June 2009
>
> http://www.pbbergs.com
>
> Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewGroups. This
> posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.
> "Kevin Gallagher" <Kevin > wrote in
> message news:52B55754-3D42-45A1-B252-...
> >I am about to install Exchange 2007 SP2 which requires an AD Schema
> >upgrade.
> > I am reading around the subject of upgrading the schema along with
> > restoring
> > AD. Although I have performed Normal and Authoritative restores I have
> > never
> > been involved in a schema upgrade before. If needed how do I recover from
> > a
> > schema problem? Would I need to recover the whole domain from backup
> > inorder
> > to recover the schema?
>
>
> .
>

Best of luck

--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCITP - Enterprise Administrator
MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, Security +, BS CSci
2008, Vista, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4
Microsoft's Thrive IT Pro of the Month - June 2009

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewGroups. This
posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.
"Kevin Gallagher" <> wrote in
message news:94237D43-0946-45F2-B963-...
> Thanks for the advice. I have backups and have tested my AD restores. I
> will
> trial the process in my test environment first.
>
> "Paul Bergson [MVP-DS]" wrote:
>
>> Although upgrading a schema is nerve racking, I personally have never
>> seen
>> or heard of an instance where rollback was required. Once 2003 came
>> along
>> you are able to disable schema extensions.
>> In order to rollback an extension, you would have to recover one dc and
>> shut
>> down and rebuild ALL other dc's. In other words an extremely monumental
>> job. I just finished extending my production domain to 2008 R2, I spent
>> months testing different scenarios prior to the extension. You can never
>> test everything but try and think of as many ways in which your
>> applications/systems could be impacted and build them out in a test lab
>> for
>> trial. Otherwise your production network is just another test lab.
>>
>> --
>> Paul Bergson
>> MVP - Directory Services
>> MCITP - Enterprise Administrator
>> MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, Security +, BS CSci
>> 2008, Vista, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4
>> Microsoft's Thrive IT Pro of the Month - June 2009
>>
>> http://www.pbbergs.com
>>
>> Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewGroups. This
>> posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.
>> "Kevin Gallagher" <Kevin > wrote in
>> message news:52B55754-3D42-45A1-B252-...
>> >I am about to install Exchange 2007 SP2 which requires an AD Schema
>> >upgrade.
>> > I am reading around the subject of upgrading the schema along with
>> > restoring
>> > AD. Although I have performed Normal and Authoritative restores I have
>> > never
>> > been involved in a schema upgrade before. If needed how do I recover
>> > from
>> > a
>> > schema problem? Would I need to recover the whole domain from backup
>> > inorder
>> > to recover the schema?
>>
>>
>> .
>>