Bobel's Active Directory, Identity, Access & SaaS Blog » PowerShell

Microsoft PKI/Certificate Management made easier

Bob Bobel — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:40:12 +0000

Dmitry Sotnikov posted a brief article talking about the new PowerGUI power pack based on the ActiveRoles PowerShell CMDLETS (a.k.a. Quest’s AD CMDLETS) for Microsoft PKI management.

Read the article here.

Download the latest version of CMDLETS here.

AD CMDLETS 1.3 BETA

Bob Bobel — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:54:20 +0000

While I’ve been here in Berlin at the Quest TEC conference, I have received several questions about when the next version of the Quest AD CMDLETS will be available. Version 1.3 is in the works and we should have a public preview version in the next month or so – so stay tuned.

Want to find your largeest AD groups?

Bob Bobel — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:11:35 +0000

Dmitry Sotnikov wrote a great article on how to locate large groups in Active Directory using PowerShell. In the example script he shows how you can use the free ActiveRoles AD CMDLETS to locate the largest groups in Active Directory.

Read Dmitry’s Blog Here

Auditing the PowerShell AD CMDLETS!

Bob Bobel — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:07:24 +0000

Dmitry Sotnikov’s blog has a great entry on how you can use ActiveRoles Server to audit changes made to Active Directory that are being done with PowerShell.

http://dmitrysotnikov.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/audit-powershell-changes-in-ad/

My Interview on the PowerScripting PodCast

Bob Bobel — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:13:44 +0000

I had the great opportunity last week to participate in the PowerScripting pod cast. Jonathan Walz & Hal Rottenberg host the show and made talking about the projects I have been involved with at Quest and outside of Quest – both easy an fun. Primarily I was on the show to talk about the ActiveRoles Management Shell for Active Directory (A.K.A The PowerShell AD CMDLETS) but we also talked about a number of other subjects. If you want to know more about PowerShell or if you want to learn how PowerShell is being used in the IT industry these pod casts are certainly a great place to start. In any case check it out…

http://powerscripting.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/episode-67-bob-bobel-from-quest-software/

ActiveRoles Management Shell 1.1 Beta Posted

Bob Bobel — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:21:00 +0000

Today we posted the beta of our ActiveRoles Management Shell 1.1 Beta Posted to http://www.quest.com/powershell/activeroles-server.aspx.

Details to follow…

Bob

Creating Test AD User Accounts with PowerShell

Bob Bobel — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:00:00 +0000

On my Friend Austin Osuide’s blog you will find detailed directions for creating a PowerShell (PoSH) Script that will create 500 test user accounts in Active Directory using the ActiveRoles PowerShell CMDLETS for AD.

http://winserverteam.org.uk/blogs/austin/archive/2007/10/22/creating-test-ad-users-with-powershell.aspx

Cheers Austin!

Bob

RC1 ActiveRoles Managment Console for AD

Bob Bobel — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:04:00 +0000

We just shipped RC1 of our Active Directory (and ADAM) managment commands for PowerShell. Congratulations to our awsome dev team… See below for details of what we provide for free by simply downloading our CMDLETs from http://www.quest.com/activeroles-server/arms.aspx.

CMDLETS at a Glance
Windows Server 2008 CMDLETS 1-4
General Object Management CMDLETS 5-11
Group Management CMDLETS 12-17
Computer Management CMDLET 18
User Management CMDLETS 19-24

CMDLETS Description

***Manage Windows 2008 Password Policy
1. Add-QADPasswordSettingsObjectAppliesTo
Add PSO links on a Password Settings object. Windows Server 2008 is required.

2. Get-QADPasswordSettingsObject
Retrieve Password Settings objects that match the specified conditions. Windows Server 2008 is required.

3. New-QADPasswordSettingsObject
Create a new Password Settings object (PSO). Windows Server 2008 is required.

4. Remove-QADPasswordSettingsObjectAppliesTo
Remove PSO links on a Password Settings object. Windows Server 2008 is required.

*** Object Management
5. Move-QADObject
Move the specified object to a different location (container) in Active Directory.

6. Remove-QADObject
Delete the specified objects in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

7. Rename-QADObject
Change the name of the specified object in Active Directory.

8. Get-QADObject
Retrieve all directory objects in a domain or container that match the specified conditions. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

9. New-QADObject
Create a new object of in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

10. Set-QADObject
Modify attributes of an object in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

11. Convert-QADAttributeValue
Convert attribute values of a directory object to the specified .NET type.

***Group Management
12. Set-QADGroup
Modify attributes of a group in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

13. Add-QADGroupMember
Add one or more objects to a group in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

14. Get-QADGroup
Retrieve all groups in a domain or container that match the specified conditions. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

15. Get-QADGroupMember
Retrieve the members of a group in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

16. New-QADGroup
Create a new group in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

17. Remove-QADGroupMember
Remove one or more members from a group in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

***Computer Management
18. Get-QADComputer
Retrieve all computer objects in a domain or container that match the specified conditions.
(This command looks lonely…)

*** Users Management
19. Get-QADUser
Retrieve all users in a domain or container that match the specified conditions. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

20. Enable-QADUser
Enable a user account in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

21. Disable-QADUser
Disable a user account in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

22. Unlock-QADUser
Unlock a user account in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

23. New-QADUser
Create a new user account in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

24. Set-QADUser
Modify attributes of a user account in Active Directory. Supported are both Active Directory Doman Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS).

***Other
25. Get-QADPSSnapinSettings
View default settings that apply to all cmdlets of this PowerShell snap-in.

26. Set-QADPSSnapinSettings
Modify default settings that apply to all cmdlets of this PowerShell snap-in.

27. Connect-QADService
Connect to the ActiveRoles Server Administration Service via the ActiveRoles Server ADSI Provider, or to a certain Active Directory domain controller or a certain server running an Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) instance via the regular LDAP ADSI Provider.

28. Disconnect-QADService
Close the connection, if any exists. A connection could be established by using the Connect-QADService cmdlet.

AD CMDLETS RC1 to be released

Bob Bobel — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:43:00 +0000

It is almost here…. ActiveRoles Management Shell RC1

We are in the final phases of preparation for shipping our Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of the ActiveRoles Management Shell for AD (a.k.a. AD Management Commands for PowerShell).

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I am extremely proud of our work in this area and that our work on PowerShell was mentioned by Microsoft as one of the major reasons why Quest was selected as Microsoft ISV of the Year.

One of the things that I am most proud of is the fact that we are providing the AD Management CMDLETs free to anyone who cares to use them. If your company is one of the many that owns ActiveRoles Server then you can also use the commands and make them subject to Roles, Rules and Approvals with the -proxy switch.

When we actually post the PowerShell CMDs you can download them from http://www.quest.com/activeroles-server/arms.aspx.

If you have questions about how they work you can go to http://activeroles.inside.quest.com/index.jspa.

If you are really hot on PowerShell and you don’t know about the free UI we also provide you can go to PowerGUI.org, get our UI and transform the way you work with PowerShell overnight.

Bob

PowerGUI 1.0.11 “Notepad for PowerShell”

Bob Bobel — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:06:00 +0000

PowerGUI 1.0.11 is out and can be freely downloaded from PowerGUI downloads page.

Dmitry’s team has been very-very busy listening to users about how PowerGUI could be improved and they have really created an awsome release.

Great Job!

Bob

Demonstration Videos

Bob Bobel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:04:00 +0000

This week we launched a series of demo videos on how the ActiveRoles Managment Shell for AD can be used to improve AD Managment. The ActiveRoles Managment Shell is Quests set of free PowerShell CMDLETS that enable PowerShell to manage Active Directory and ADAM (now called AD LDS).

If you didn’t know about these CMDLETs you should know that they are provided free to anyone who needs them and spends the time to download them. Alternativly customers of ActiveRoles Server can use them in conjuction with ActiveRoles Server to take advantage of Rules and Workflow provided by ActiveRoles Server.

http://www.quest.com/activeroles-server/arms.aspx

Bob

4th Beta of Quest Active Directory CMDLETS for PowerShell released

Bob Bobel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:05:00 +0000

About a week ago we shipped the 4th beta of the Quest AD CMDLETS for PowerShell. There are several new and cool features in this release and we are getting closer to being feature complete for our first GA release later this year.

Be sure to un-install any previous versions of the AD CMDLETS before you install 1.0.4

New CMDLETS:
Disable-QADUser (same as right clicking on a user and choosing disable)
Enable-QADUser
Move-QADObject (Move an AD object between OUs)
Set-QADUser (Set attributes of a user object)
Unlock-QADUser (Set the User Account Control to unlock a user account)

To get the cmdlets go to http://www.quest.com/activeroles-server/arms.aspx

Bob

PowerShell AD CMDLETS – Beta 3 Release

Bob Bobel — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:30:00 +0000

I’m proud to announce that we have shiped beta 3 of the Quest PowerShell AD CMDLETS. These CMDLETS allow you to managed Active Directory along side other applicatoins you are already managing with PowerShell like Exchange 2007. We have added serveral new cmdlets that are pretty exciting.

You can download the beta 3 for free from http://www.quest.com/activeroles-server/arms.aspx

For more information on PowerShell you should take a look at the PowerShell team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/ or my good friend Dmitry Sotnikov’s page at http://dmitrysotnikov.wordpress.com/.

CMDLETS for Managing Active Directory

Bob Bobel — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:21:00 +0000

One of the projects I’m responsible for at my job is a free set of PowerShell CMDLETS that can be used to do command line managment of Active Directory or ADAM (Now AD LDS).

Anyone who has PowerShell and AD will appreciate how easy it is to perform tasks that – in the past – would require lines and lines of VB script.

You can get the free AD CMDLETS here http://www.quest.com/activeroles-server/arms.aspx.

If you don’t have PowerShell yet, you can downlaod it from Microsoft’s site and you will need to do this before you add our CMDLETS.

Also part of our CMDLETS is a snap-in for PowerGUI an MMC alternative to command access to PowerShell… meaning instead of typing in PowerShell you run commands with your mouse and a click. This is also free and can be downloaded from www.powergui.org.

Power(shell) to the People!!!

Bob