How to perform attribute level restoration of AD objects using ADManager Plus?

Granular recovery of AD objects

Granular recovery means restoring the smallest of changes, without having to perform complete restoration of data. In Active Directory, granular recovery is synonymous with attribute-level restoration, which is restoring only a specific attribute of an AD object, instead of restoring all the attributes of the object or restoring all the objects.

Why should you perform attribute-level restoration?

Helps reduce resource utilization
Faster than complete restoration

The native AD tools provide no scope for granular restoration of AD objects.

ADManager Plus- the ultimate tool for AD management

ADManager Plus, apart from its many AD management, reporting, automation and delegation capabilities, also supports attribute-level restoration of AD objects, in just a few clicks.

You can also take full backups, compare different backup versions, and restore objects completely using ADManager Plus.

Prerequisites for performing attribute-level recovery

Ensure that the following conditions are met before taking AD backups through ADManager Plus:

1. Backup settings have been enabled for the required domain. To enable backup settings for your domain:

a. Logon to ADManager Plus using administrator credentials and click on the Backup tab.

b. Click on the Settings section in the left pane and click on Backup Settings.

c. Enable the backup settings for your domain.

2. Recovery settings have been enabled for the required domain.

3. Elasticsearch is downloaded and installed on the same machine where ADManager Plus is installed.

4. Atleast one type of backup (full or incremental) is available for restoration.

Note: Ideally, Elasticsearch will be downloaded and saved at the same location as ADManager Plus automatically, when you enable backup settings for any domain. If it is not downloaded automatically, use this link to download it.

Steps to perform attribute level recovery

1. Logon to ADManager Plus and click on the Backup tab.

2. Configure the recovery settings of your domain. For this:

a. Click on the Recovery Settings option under the Settings section.

b. Click on the Edit icon located next to the name of your domain.

c. Provide a Default Password that can be used during the recovery of a deleted object, if that object's password is not preserved in the recycle bin.

d. Enable the Preserve Object Password, Force Replication, and Recover Tombstone Expired Objects options.

e. Click on Save.

3. Click on the Restore option under the Active Directory section.

4. Navigate to the Granular Restore option and click the Filter option.

5. Specify the name of the object, and OU in which the object resides.

6. Choose the desired backup period.

7. Specify the Object Type and click on Search.

8. Once the backed up objects are listed, click on the Backup Value of the desired object.

9. Change the Restore View to

a. Version View if you wish to view the backup versions. You can then click on the changes in each version, and choose the attribute value that you wish to restore.

b. Attribute View if you wish to restore a specific attribute value directly.

10. Click on Restore.

Benefits of using ADManager Plus to perform granular restoration