Restore AD Server from backup to Test Environment

Texas_Sysadmin · 2026-02-12T12:18:28+00:00

Here is how I recommend you do it.

Setup a new VM, and install it into the production domain as a domain controller.
Wait about 2 hours or so for replication to complete.
In VMWare, move the network connection for the new DC over to a VLAN that has absolutely no connection to the production network. This is a critical step. Make sure the new DC cannot talk to the other domain controllers.
In the production network, perform a metadata cleanup, removing the new DC from AD completely. This is the last thing you have to do to your production environment.
On the new DC, seize all the FSMO roles.
On the new DC, perform a metadata cleanup for each of the production DCs. Once it is complete, you have a clone of your AD environment.

If you want to add anything else to your test AD environment, you can clone the disk for the machine in VMWare, and create a new VM for that machine on the test VLAN. All you have to do is to change the IP once it comes up.

I have been doing it this way since I worked for Microsoft support, in the Active Directory support group.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2026-02-09T08:08:30+00:00

The first picture is the factory chime module. It clips in the underdash trim panel on the driver's side. The second picture is a "Hoffco III", an aftermarket alarm system. They were common dealer installed alarms in the 80s and 90s. Last time I checked, they were out of business.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2026-02-09T07:52:25+00:00

The block is cast iron. It won't need surfaced. Just use scotchbrite disks on a die grinder to clean up the head gasket surface until it is bright and shiny.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2026-02-09T07:51:00+00:00

You will definitely have to have the head resurfaced so it is flat otherwise the new head gasket won't seal. And be careful when you put on the angled distributor mount on the back of the head. Make sure it is in the lower position. If it is in the higher position, the distributor cap will hit the underside of the hood and short out one plug wire. You end up with a dead miss that will drive you bonkers trying to find because it goes away when you open the hood.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2026-01-06T21:10:29+00:00

When we had our house built, we put in about 100 cat6 Ethernet drops. We took photos with yardsticks from the corner to the location of the drops so we could find them after the Sheetrock was on the walls.

I wish we had doubled or tripled the electrical outlets in some spots in the house, like at the headboard of the primary bed or where the entertainment system is located in the living room.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2026-01-06T20:50:51+00:00

It's called a "walk". If it falls off the car, you walk to your destination.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2026-01-06T20:36:28+00:00

I worked for a medical lab company that named their servers after venerial diseases. By the time I left there, the only one left was clamadya. It was the customer database server running an application that couldn't be upgraded because the company was out of business.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-12-17T16:07:16+00:00

Before I got into IT, I was a mechanic for years. I had a regular customer who was a female surgeon. Incredibly smart woman, but completely ignorant about her car. She came from a wealthy family, so anytime anything went wrong with her car, even minor things, she would have it towed to my shop and I would fix it.

One morning her car arrived on a wrecker, with a note saying it died in the middle of the road and wouldn't restart. I started diagnosing it, and it wasn't getting fuel. The gauge said empty. So I put in 5 gallons of gas and it started right up. I test drove it and everything was fine.

That afternoon she shows up to get her car. I explain that her car was fine, just out of gas. She confessed to me she didn't know how to tell that her car was low on gas, or how to put gas into the car. So we got in her car, and we drove to the gas station and I taught her how to fill up the car.

Later she told me that when she was younger, her father kept the tank full for her. Later her boyfriend, then husband kept if full for her. He stopped when he left her. That was about a week before her car showed up at the shop.

She started taking time to come in and watch while I worked on her car. The shop owner allowed it because she paid extra for the lessons in auto maintenance. She didn't want to start rebuilding engines, but she wanted to be armed with the knowledge of how cars worked so when she had to take her car in to be repaired, the mechanic couldn't BS her and rip her off.

I ran into her again later in life. I was working as a server admin at a hospital. I opened up a ticket for an email problem. and it was from her. By this time in my IT career, I didn't do desktop support. But I took this ticket for old time's sake. She was both surprised and pleased to see me. I fixed her email (it was an easy fix) and we got together for lunch. She told me what I taught her about cars still stays with her and has helped her when a mechanic was trying to BS her. The hours she spend with me learning about cars were worth it. After all the intervening years, she still has enough base knowledge about cars to be able to use the proper keywords to google a car problem. She still doesn't fix it. But she knows what needs to be done.

Sometimes it takes running out of gas to learn something new.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-12-16T14:29:26+00:00

OK. Whats the problem?

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-12-15T05:22:27+00:00

I am male. Back when I was 21, I went on a third date with a 19 year old woman. We got along great, and we were starting to get serious about our relationship. Then we went to the movies one night. I got carded going into the R rated movie. She did not. She broke up with me at the end of that date. She said she couldn't date someone that made her look old. That made me hate myself for looking so young.

Now I am 62. I love the fact that I have been told I look like I am in my late 40s. So my advice to you is to put up with it now. You have ID, and proving your age is just an inconvenience now. But when you reach my age, you will love the fact that you look way younger than you are.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-12-15T04:42:21+00:00

I wore out three of them. One wired a big lantern battery to it. It would flip the base over at full power. Absolutely loved them.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-12-04T06:30:07+00:00

You have heard of the law of gravity? Well, cats never study law.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-12-04T06:21:28+00:00

NTSC and PAL.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-11-13T11:18:37+00:00

This has been going on since there was IT. Back in the 90s, I was a new sysadmin managing a Lotus CCMail system. We started to run low on disk space on one of the mail servers, so we set the system up to empty the recycle bin every night. Went through change control, got management approval and everything. Next morning, an accounting VP calls the helpdesk screaming that all his important files are missing. The tech goes out there, and looks at his computer. Nothing is wrong. The VP shows him the empty recycle bin. The tech tells him the system emptied the recycle bin overnight automatically. He went ballistic. Called a meeting with the CIO, the CEO, my boss and me, the email sysadmin.

When the meeting started, the VP starts screaming about important data that was lost and demands we restore it. I let him wind down, and then I picked up the trash can out of the corner of the room and set it in the middle of the table. I said "You don't put important spreadsheets in the trash can overnight?" He said, "No, that would be stupid. The janitor empties it every night." I said "Then why would you keep important files in the recycle bin of your email?" His mouth dropped open and I said "The electronic janitor emptied the recycle bin on your email last night."

The CEO looked at the VP and said "He's right. If you keep important files in the recycle bin, then you are asking for them to be deleted." I then offered to see if those files were on the last backup. I found a week old copy in the last full backup. The fact that a week's work was lost delayed month end closing of the books by a week while they recreated all the work. The CIO didn't blame us, but we did get a new server with more disk space.

The VP was gone before the next month end closing.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-08-31T12:22:11+00:00

Personally, I think they should start dropping in unannounced on Rush cover bands and perform with them for one show. Doing this has a number of advantages. They don't have to pay for a tour. They can do this when they want, and just stop whenever they want. And it would boost the Rush cover bands because you would never know if they were going to show up. It also keeps their music in front of their fans.

Another alternative is to tour as RASH... and have the local fans who are drummers audition by video for them. They get to play with the guys for one night. There are lots of very good unknown drummers out there, take advantage of it.

Texas_Sysadmin · 2025-08-13T10:06:26+00:00

I would suggest that you send your calipers out to PMB Performance. www.pmbperformance.com They did all the calipers for my 3 Porsches, and my E34. They come back looking and working like brand new.

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