Due to hardware failure I'm in a situation where I have to completely restore a Server 2003 member server on the same machine. I have a full, verified backup of the all data (including system state, etc). I plan to follow the procedures laid out in Symantec's article 236286 (it was backed up using Backup Exec) as soon as the necessary hardware arrives. My question, though, is whether or not I should reset the computer account in Active Directory Users and Computers or make modifications in DNS prior to restoring the server itself. I'm also wondering whether or not I should use the same server/computer name prior to restoring (The original server name was SERVER.MYDOMAIN.LOCAL. Should I name the rebuilt server "SERVER" as well?).

When you restore the server and it's system state, it won't matter what the original server name is. The system state has the registry and all that info is in the registry. Don't reset any domain accounts, just go ahead and restore the computer from backup and go from there. FYI: I had to restore a Small Business Server 2003 a few months ago from backup. They were using the built in NTBackup to backup to a REV drive. First we reinstalled Windows SBS 2003, but without the 2nd part where it installs Exchange and all the other components. The restore brought everything back as it was (for the most part), which was a pleasant surprise. Domain AD, Exchange, user accounts, ect. Only thing we had to do was reinstall about half the 3rd party apps for some reason (QuickBooks, Word Perfect, MS Word.... please don't ask me why they had that stuff on the server), then everything worked ok. Good luck. Assume that I already did an Internet search.