We have an Active Directory domain spanning multiple branches. Each branch is connected to each other and has two local GCs. While I am a developer at one of the branches, I am also a part-time administrator of the local branch network resources. I would like to ask about backing up the local GCs.
The local branch GCs run in Hyper-V virtual machines. In the event of a disaster, I understand that rebuilding a VM and letting it synchronize with the other should be sufficient for recovery. In an even worse case, if both local GCs die I could still rebuild one / both of the VMs and let them synchronize with the domain controllers located at the other branches. However, this does not seem like the ideal backup solution, as well as potentially having a protracted downtime.
As for backups, I do take scheduled state backups. But I'd like to ask about the acceptability of backing up the VM (VHDX disk) itself. If I were to store a backup of the VM disk, would simply restoring this back and waiting for synchronization be sufficient to restoring the GC? Is there any documentation / best practices with this method? Are there any significant problems that I should be aware of?
Thank you.