Extract members and groups from AD

Hi all,

I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big mess in
this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all the different
distribution and security groups and their members. Is there a Microsoft tool
or a 3rd part free application that I can use to extract all this information
and sort it in a logical way?

Thanks
rondo

Hello Rondo,

You can use scripts:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr....mspx?mfr=true

or maybe ADExplorer will help you also:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963907.aspx

What kind of sorting do you mean?

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> Hi all,
>
> I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big
> mess in this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all the
> different distribution and security groups and their members. Is there
> a Microsoft tool or a 3rd part free application that I can use to
> extract all this information and sort it in a logical way?
>
> Thanks
> rondo

Hi Meinolf and thanks for the very fast reply. I'm sure the scripts can help
me, but I'm not quite sure how to use them. I've tried the "List All the
Members of a Group" script and modified it to reflect the location of the
group I want to see, but I don't think I'm doing it right.

What I would like ideally is to copy/paste the result into a spreadsheet and
then be able to sort it as I like. What I need to compare is names of groups
and the membership of different groups, as my company was merged with another
company last year, and now there are a lot of groups that can probably be
deleted and groups where memberships have to be modified.

I hope this explains it better.

Regards,
rondo

"Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:

> Hello Rondo,
>
> You can use scripts:
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr....mspx?mfr=true
>
> or maybe ADExplorer will help you also:
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963907.aspx
>
> What kind of sorting do you mean?
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
> no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big
> > mess in this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all the
> > different distribution and security groups and their members. Is there
> > a Microsoft tool or a 3rd part free application that I can use to
> > extract all this information and sort it in a logical way?
> >
> > Thanks
> > rondo
>
>
>

Hello Rondo,

Have a look here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237677

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555634

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk...VDE_LDIFDE.htm

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm


> Hi Meinolf and thanks for the very fast reply. I'm sure the scripts
> can help me, but I'm not quite sure how to use them. I've tried the
> "List All the Members of a Group" script and modified it to reflect
> the location of the group I want to see, but I don't think I'm doing
> it right.
>
> What I would like ideally is to copy/paste the result into a
> spreadsheet and then be able to sort it as I like. What I need to
> compare is names of groups and the membership of different groups, as
> my company was merged with another company last year, and now there
> are a lot of groups that can probably be deleted and groups where
> memberships have to be modified.
>
> I hope this explains it better.
>
> Regards,
> rondo
> "Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:
>
>> Hello Rondo,
>>
>> You can use scripts:
>> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr...efault.mspx?mf
>> r=true
>> or maybe ADExplorer will help you also:
>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963907.aspx
>> What kind of sorting do you mean?
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Meinolf Weber
>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
>> confers
>> no rights.
>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
>> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big
>>> mess in this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all
>>> the different distribution and security groups and their members. Is
>>> there a Microsoft tool or a 3rd part free application that I can use
>>> to extract all this information and sort it in a logical way?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>> rondo

Hi
you can have a look at scriptcenter, or google for ldifde, csvde, ad
scripting etc...

--
I hope that the information above helps you.
Have a Nice day.

Jorge Silva
MCSE, MVP Directory Services

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Rondo" <ronnie.ziegler@gmail.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:B93B6815-DF50-4F71-9D21-DE73603EA243@microsoft.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big mess
> in
> this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all the different
> distribution and security groups and their members. Is there a Microsoft
> tool
> or a 3rd part free application that I can use to extract all this
> information
> and sort it in a logical way?
>
> Thanks
> rondo

I would warn you to go very slowly. I don't know your situation but these
groups are probably intertwined into file and folder permissions on NTFS.
Tweak these incorrectly and you can easily start breaking apps, etc...

You may alrady realize all this, but just wanted to make sure and give you a
heads up.

--
Paul Bergson
MVP - Directory Services
MCTS, MCT, MCSE, MCSA, Security+, BS CSci
2008, 2003, 2000 (Early Achiever), NT4

http://www.pbbergs.com

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup This
posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Rondo" <ronnie.ziegler@gmail.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:B93B6815-DF50-4F71-9D21-DE73603EA243@microsoft.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big mess
> in
> this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all the different
> distribution and security groups and their members. Is there a Microsoft
> tool
> or a 3rd part free application that I can use to extract all this
> information
> and sort it in a logical way?
>
> Thanks
> rondo

I have an example VBScript program that documents the membership of all
groups in the domain linked here:

http://www.rlmueller.net/Programs/DocumentGroups.txt

--
Richard Mueller
MVP Directory Services
Hilltop Lab - http://www.rlmueller.net
--

"Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:ff16fb66124478cb3fa41f956f94@msnews.microsoft.com...
> Hello Rondo,
>
> Have a look here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237677
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555634
>
> http://www.computerperformance.co.uk...VDE_LDIFDE.htm
>
> Best regards
>
> Meinolf Weber
> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
> confers no rights.
> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>
>> Hi Meinolf and thanks for the very fast reply. I'm sure the scripts
>> can help me, but I'm not quite sure how to use them. I've tried the
>> "List All the Members of a Group" script and modified it to reflect
>> the location of the group I want to see, but I don't think I'm doing
>> it right.
>>
>> What I would like ideally is to copy/paste the result into a
>> spreadsheet and then be able to sort it as I like. What I need to
>> compare is names of groups and the membership of different groups, as
>> my company was merged with another company last year, and now there
>> are a lot of groups that can probably be deleted and groups where
>> memberships have to be modified.
>>
>> I hope this explains it better.
>>
>> Regards,
>> rondo
>> "Meinolf Weber [MVP-DS]" wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Rondo,
>>>
>>> You can use scripts:
>>> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr...efault.mspx?mf
>>> r=true
>>> or maybe ADExplorer will help you also:
>>> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963907.aspx
>>> What kind of sorting do you mean?
>>>
>>> Best regards
>>>
>>> Meinolf Weber
>>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
>>> confers
>>> no rights.
>>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
>>> ** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big
>>>> mess in this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all
>>>> the different distribution and security groups and their members. Is
>>>> there a Microsoft tool or a 3rd part free application that I can use
>>>> to extract all this information and sort it in a logical way?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>> rondo
>
>

Hi guys and thanks a lot for the replies.

I'll be looking in the scripting center to try and find the best solution.

Cheers,
Ronnie

"Rondo" wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big mess in
> this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all the different
> distribution and security groups and their members. Is there a Microsoft tool
> or a 3rd part free application that I can use to extract all this information
> and sort it in a logical way?
>
> Thanks
> rondo

Great!

--
I hope that the information above helps you.
Have a Nice day.

Jorge Silva
MCSE, MVP Directory Services

Please no e-mails, any questions should be posted in the NewsGroup
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Rondo" <ronnie.ziegler@gmail.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:D8BD1888-2411-4B5B-9E75-D33E23524669@microsoft.com...
> Hi guys and thanks a lot for the replies.
>
> I'll be looking in the scripting center to try and find the best solution.
>
> Cheers,
> Ronnie
>
> "Rondo" wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've just started in a new job, and quickly learned that AD is a big mess
>> in
>> this company. Now I'd like to get a better overview of all the different
>> distribution and security groups and their members. Is there a Microsoft
>> tool
>> or a 3rd part free application that I can use to extract all this
>> information
>> and sort it in a logical way?
>>
>> Thanks
>> rondo