I learned a long time ago that it's just a lot bloody easier to have a Windows Server machine (physical or virtual) hanging around that you can quickly promote to a DC if the need arises. It can be a slight pain in a WAN like we have because updating FSMO roles and other AD objects can take some time, but really, at the end of the day, using your other DCs as your "backup" is a lot easier than rebuilding from backup.

While I still religiously back up AD on a nightly basis, I haven't actually rebuilt a DC from such a backup in nearly a decade, and it's more a kind of religious obligation than because I believe I'll ever use the backup. A new Server install and DCPROMO is faster, more reliable and far less error prone than taking a day or two old backup of an AD DC.

Indeed. It's literally the 1950s and early 1960s all over again. There was a day and an age when the 45 single was the backbone of the music industry, and it looks like download services have returned it to that era.

About the only way I can see you safely making a backup image before applying updates to an AD domain controller is to make the image, then download the updates, and then most importantly disconnect the DC from the network, or at least sever all links from any other DCs in the forest before applying the updates. That way if things do go south you can always restore the backup without having mucked up the rest of the forest.

I've done it on my forest, but each network segment is connected by a VPN or VLAN and there is only one DC per segment, so it would be relatively easy to segregate a DC during updates. Having more than one DC in the same AD site on the same segment would be a pain.

Restoring domain controllers from images is a dangerous game. Nothing like'a'split brain AD network to make your day.

If AWS gave you a console session, I'm presuming someone (like, say, the NSA) already has a backdoor and can happily grab your password.

Not sure what the surprise here is. I had a Server 2003 guest go nuts on my KVM server and become pretty much unbootable. I mounted the raw image file via loop back and ntfs3g and happily copied all the data off of the virtual hd. I've done the same thing with Linux and BSD raw images, partitions and physical drives.

If I wanted real security I would use disk encryption like TrueCrypt on the vm volume, so that even if someone could gain access to the VM host, they would be confronted with an encrypted volume, and without the pass code or key, they're hooped. Mind you, because I'm using some cloud service, if they are nefarious (or the NSA has backdoor access), they've already got my key and/or password, in which case whether or not the volume on the cloud VM is encrypted or not, they've been happily vacuuming up my data anyways.

The moral here is that unless you have custody of your data, you ought to presume the worst.

And you can identify them easily. They're the display units with the thick layer of dust.

How could anything that sold so few units have any kind of legacy, other than purely negative terms?

I want to be a corrupt crony, you insensitive clod!

I'm taking my Betamax tapes and going home! And get off my lawn!

So let's get this straight. You're stereotypical feminist (which does not reflect reality, merely your biases) picks on your stereotypical male (which does not exist either, save to be used to confirm your biases).

How about we just behave like civilized human beings in public spaces. What you can get away with your pals in your basement may not translate well into a professional arena.

If you haven't figured out that tit jokes have no place in a professional conference, then you're parents failed you badly.

You do realize, I trust, that there is more than one kind of feminist, and not all a bra-burning lesbians out to eliminate the Y chromosome.

I guess the message we should send is "Many guys in IT are either Aspies or just plain socially inept morons, so please expect some boorish behavior that, if they were to occur in, say, an accountants convention, would lead to these kind of people being hauled off stage and tossed out the nearest exit."

From the reaction shots in the audience, particularly that of Will Smith and his family, I did not get the impression that the majority were in the "You go girl!" camp. Most seemed shocked, a few started to fully comprehend what they were seeing and they were not pleased. Cyrus may have gained some "cred" with her intended audience, but somehow I think there are a few Hollywood parties that she won't be invited to.