AD and Tombstone lifetime

Phil

I've got a situation where the entire IT infrastructure needs to be boxed and
stored for an unknown length of time possibly years.

the system includes 3 W2k3 AD servers. If all the systems are replicating
and working well and are shutdown and stored, will they work when rebooted 6
months or 2 years later?

I'm concerned that all of AD will be invalidated due to the tombstone
lifetime?

thanks.

Ryan Hanisco

Phil,

Have a look at the link for shipping or long term disconnection of DCs.


I don't know what the maximum threshold is for the tombstone date, but this
should get you on the right track.

The real question is whether garbage collection or replication problems
would even matter if the entire directory were aged. At first blush, I
wouldn't expect a problem if everything was at the same serial number. I
would expect the problem to arise if there were a serial number difference
and the update was way out of whack.


Also, have a look at the article on advancing time on the DCs. This is
essentially what you would be doing -- with actual time.


Hope this helps.
--
Ryan Hanisco
MCSE, MCTS: SQL 2005, Project+
Chicago, IL

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"Phil" wrote:

> I've got a situation where the entire IT infrastructure needs to be boxed and
> stored for an unknown length of time possibly years.
>
> the system includes 3 W2k3 AD servers. If all the systems are replicating
> and working well and are shutdown and stored, will they work when rebooted 6
> months or 2 years later?
>
> I'm concerned that all of AD will be invalidated due to the tombstone
> lifetime?
>
> thanks.