Locating Objects in Active Directory
Objects in AD can be traced using two methods.
- 1. The DSquery command line tool
- 2. The Find dialogue box in ADUC console
DSquery is a directory service search command-line tool. It can be used with appropriate parameters to search objects in Active Directory.
The following are a list of various parameters that can be used with Dsquery and their purpose.
- DSquery user – To find a user
- DSquery contact –To find a contact
- DSquery group – To find a group
- DSquery computer – To find a computer
- DSquery OU – To find an OU
- DSquery site – To find a site
- DSquery subnet – To find a subnet
- DSquery server – To find a server
- DSquery partition – To find partition objects
- DSquery quota – To find quota specifications
- DSquery – To find any object using a generic LDAP query.
The figure above shows the resultant set for a Dsquery to locate OUs.
Alternatively you can also use the Find dialogue box from ADUC.
Listed below are the steps you can follow to use Find dialogue box.
- Start ->Administrative tools ->Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC)
- In ADUC console tree right click the container object in which the search should be made
- choose Find from the shortcut menu
- The Find dialog box appears with in which you should choose the object type to be searched and the container on which the search should be carried
Find dialogue box
- You can use the advanced tab to streamline the search
- Clicking on the advanced tab will pop a dialogue box as shown below
Find dialogue box(advanced)
- choose the attribute to search in the field list box
- Use the conditions drop down list box to refine your search
- Value for the conditional search can be given in the value box
- Use the add button to add more conditions on the search
- Finally click find ->the search results will be displayed from which you can identify the object.
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