What is Delayed Replication?

• The idea behind an Active Directory “delayed replication DC” (also referred to as a “slow DC” or a “lag DC”) is that organizations can more quickly recover portions of their Active Directory structure by performing an authoritative restore from this delayed replication DC instead of having to go back to tape.

• Keep in mind that many organizations use off-site storage of backup tapes, and recalling backup tapes from the off-site storage facility can take some time, as can the tape operations themselves.

• Let’s face it: when it comes to speed, tape isn’t exactly king of the hill.

• With a delayed replication DC (this would be a DC that only replicates on specific days of the week or after an extended period of time, like 72 hours), however, that process can be shortened drastically because recovering an OU, a user object, a group, or even AD-integrated DNS data can be done directly from the delayed replication DC.

• Once the delayed-rep DC is up and running, then you are ready to use it to perform authoritative restores of AD objects.

- Sudhir