An overview of active directory backups. Active Directory is a proprietary software from Microsoft that assists with domain management and user authentication. Maintaining your system's active directory enhances organizational efficiency, but this also means keeping your active directory secure is of utmost importance. In this video, we'll outline the steps for conducting an active directory backup, as well as why these backups are so important. Before we begin, be sure to subscribe to Ninja One's IT Video Hub. For more tech content like this, active directory backups are like insurance policies for your network. Without them, your organization faces threats such as data loss, business disruption, compliance issues, and inefficient incident response. Users can create a system state backup, otherwise known as SSB through Windows server. This type of backup records your systems configuration settings such as boot files in the system registry, as well as important components that active directory needs like DNS and Group Information Policy. To create an SSB Open Server Manager and locate Windows server backup, log in with backup operator credentials, then launch the backup. Once Wizard Select system state from backup options, then enable volume shadow copy service. To do so, go to the select items for backup screen, then go to advanced settings, find VSS settings, then select VSS full backup. Click okay. Under the specified destination type window, choose either local driver or remote shared folder. Specify the backup location on the select backup destination page. Then choose backup. When the confirmation screen pops up. Wait for the backup to finish. Then click close. How to restore a system? State backup to restore your device from a system, state backup open windows server and select directory services restore mode. Next, open windows server backup and select recover. In the recovery wizard window, select a backup stored on another location, and click next in the select backup date window. Enter the location of your backup, and click next in the select recovery type screen. Select system state. Then click next in the select location for system state recovery screen, choose original location. Click recover. Once the confirmation page pops up. After the restoration process, reboot and then log into the server. As we mentioned in the beginning of the video, conducting active directory backups shouldn't be a one-time thing. After finishing a backup, you should already be planning for the next one. For more information, check out our official blog post on active directory backups linked in the description below.