Ezine 160 - PowerShell and QAD Cmdlets
Ezine 160 - PowerShell and QAD Cmdlets
A few readers wrote in saying that my PowerShell articles were gibberish.
All I can say in reply is that this week the ezine will seem like advanced
gibberish unless you: a) Install PowerShell, b) Get these famous QAD add-ons.
Topics for PowerShell and QAD
♣
A fresh look at QAD (Quest Active Directory) cmdlets caused me to think - 'cheat'.
This thought was followed by two more 'eureka' moments. Firstly, the whole of PowerShell is
a cheat; secondly the thought there is nothing wrong with cheating
- all script writers copy and paste other people's code examples.
On a more reflective note, QAD cmdlets cheat in the sense that we no longer
have to craft mechanisms which connect to active directory and then enumerate
the objects. There again, do I mind QAD cutting down my work load?
The answer is a resounding, 'No', because QADs means I can concentrate on the
more interesting aspects of scripting Active Directory tasks.
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Three Pre-requisites
My speciality is getting people started. Thus I emphasise again, you need three
pre-requisites for these QAD cmdlets to work, and for my examples to
produce results.
- Download and install PowerShell.
Go to Microsoft's site and choose the flavour to suit your operating system.
- Download, then install the QAD Snap-ins from this site:
http://www.quest.com/activeroles-server/arms.aspx
- Access to Active Directory.
The reason for downloading these free QAD snap-ins, with their cmdlets, is
while PowerShell itself has lots of built-in cmdlets, not many specialise in Active
Directory. QAD filled this void by crafting Active
Directory cmdlets and 'packaged' them into a Snap-in. Our first job is to
install that QAD snap-in.
Unless you have a passing familiarity with PowerShell, installing the snap-in
(some call them snapins) is tricky. Assuming that you have downloaded the
package from QAD, here below is the PowerShell command. What I don't know
- but you do, is where on your machine you downloaded the QAD file. My point you
need to edit c:\ in the command below.
# Instruction to add a QAD Snap-in
set-Location c:\
add-PSSnapin quest.activeroles.admanagement
QAD techniques are identical to those of standard PowerShell cmdlets.
A good way to start is by applying classic PowerShell research tools to the QAD
cmdlets, for example get-command. It's also reassuring that QAD have
included help about the parameters, moreover this help is in the same format as that for native
PowerShell cmdlets.
Here is a simple technique that you can use when ever you start a new
project. Our objective is to list the QAD commands. Get-Command is the
key PowerShell cmdlet for our investigation. I tried appending plain QAD* however,
but this did not work, I needed to help PowerShell by adding a verb, for example
get-QAD*
Pre-requisite You need Active Directory. To
reduce authentication / firewall / impersonating errors, I ran all these
commands on a domain controller.
get-Command get-QAD*
Note 1: From the results of example 1, observe
the structure of the names QADxyz; where xyz could be an Active
Directory User, Computer, or
Group.
Note 2: Are these QAD objects singular, or plural? A
valuable piece of knowledge is that PowerShell consistently uses only singular
nouns, furthermore, Quest honours this convention and each QAD is a singular
word.
Example 1b Set
'Set' is a more exciting and potentially more dangerous verb than 'get', this
command would
actually change the properties of active directory objects, so be careful.
get-Command set-QAD*
Note 1: As I hinted earlier, for safety reasons
we are merely listing the available 'set' QAD cmdlets rather than putting them to
work.
Note 2: Remember the PowerShell rule of verb-Noun.
Example 2a Research QADUser
Continuing this research theme, let us discover more about the QAD command.
Here is a classic opportunity for another great PowerShell command get-help with
a switch called -full.
get-Help get-QADUser -full
Example 2b QADUser in action
Our objective is to list merely those Active Directory users beginning with the letter 'a'.
get-QADUser a*
Challenge 1: Substitute QADGroup for QADUser
Challenge 2: I liked the flexibility of QADObject, for
example try:
get-QADObject -type 'organizationalUnit'
Conclusion
QADxyz cmdlets will open up a whole new world of scripting Active Directory with
PowerShell. I see my role to get you started, now it is up to you to plan,
then create scripts to manage your Users, Groups and Computers. Should you
get stuck, make your first troubleshooting action: get-help verb-Noun -full.
If the script still does not work, then post question in a PowerShell forum
such as: Microsoft.Public.Windows.PowerShell.
If you are looking for handy network utilities, try some of the free downloads at
Tools4Ever
PowerShell's native methods of scripting Active Directory objects are tortuous.
Perhaps I have a short memory, but listing users with native PowerShell seems
even more difficult than VBScript. Fortunately, we can take advantage of
the extra cmdlets that QAD kindly provide at no charge. The only tricky
part is obtaining and loading the QAD snap-in. Once you have completed
that step, commands such as get-QADUser seem part and parcel of PowerShell.
If you like this page then please share it with your friends
See more PowerShell QAD Scripts
• PowerShell Home •
Quest QAD •
QADUser •
QADGroup •
QADComputer
•
Export-CSV •
Import CSV •
QAD Password •
Add-PSSnapin
•
Get-AdUser -filter •
Windows
PowerShell •
Windows PowerShell .Net
Please email me if you have a better example script. Also please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links, I will be happy to correct the fault.
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