How to Use Windows Server 2003 Automated System Recovery to Back Up a Remote Installation Services Server

This article describes how the Automated System Recovery (ASR) feature can be used to back up and to restore a Remote Installation Services (RIS) server and RIS volumes.

If you use the ASR feature to back up your Windows Server 2003-based RIS server, and you only perform an ASR backup (and nothing else), you cannot be ensured of a complete recovery of the RIS server and its related volumes and data.

RIS server volumes and their data are not backed up as part of the ASR backup process. To ensure that you have a complete backup of a RIS server in conjunction with an ASR backup:

1. Perform an ASR backup of the RIS server.
2. Perform a complete backup of the RIS volume data.
3. Initiate an ASR recovery of the failed Windows Server 2003-based RIS server.
4. Install a CD-ROM-based image by running the Risetup.exe program. This step creates a "clean" RemoteInstall folder and RIS/SIS volume.
5. Restore your backup of the original Single Instance Store (SIS) volume data to the newly created SIS volume and RemoteInstall folder. After this process is complete, you have access to the original images or data on the new SIS volume, and the RIS server is fully operational.