Adding a Module The Import-Module cmdlet  Can be used to load any external module into PowerShell.  Uses the following syntax to add the ActiveDirectory module:  Using this cmdlet imports the module into only the currently- running session. You will need to import it in each session.  After it is loaded, the module adds a set of commands for administering Active Directory. You can retrieve the list of commands using: The Remove-Module cmdlet will unload the module from the current session. Import-Module ActiveDirectory Get-Command –module ActiveDirectory

The AD: Drive Adding the ActiveDirectory module also adds a PSDrive provider.  This provider maps the AD: drive to your logon domain.  The main purpose of this drive is to provide a security context for executing cmdlets. When you run an Active Directory cmdlet, it will automatically use the credentials and domain of the current AD: drive.  This eliminates the need to supply credentials for each command.  You can map other drives to other domains and credentials. Cmdlets will run using the credentials associated with the current drive.  To use a different domain or set of credentials, change to the correct mapped drive, and then begin running cmdlets.

Tip for Earlier Versions of Windows Be Aware: The Active Directory cmdlets are designed to be used on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 only  This means that other operating systems cannot directly install and use the cmdlets  However, these older operating systems can indirectly use the cmdlets of another host The process to use another host’s cmdlets is called implicit remoting, and will be covered later in this course

Filtering It is generally a bad idea to query every object in Active Directory at once  Doing so is computationally expensive  Doing so can impact your Domain Controllers’ performance Most Active Directory cmdlets have defined a mandatory parameter called –filter  This –filter parameter limits the number of records that the cmdlet will work with  It can accept wildcards and PowerShell-style criteria: Get-ADUser -Filter 'Name -like "*SvcAccount"' Get-ADUser -Filter {Name -eq "GlenJohn"} Get-ADUser -Filter 'Name -like "*SvcAccount"' Get-ADUser -Filter {Name -eq "GlenJohn"}

Computer and Other Objects The ActiveDirectory cmdlet can also interact with objects other than users, such as:  Computer objects  Groups  Fine-grained password policies The cmdlets Get-ADComputer, New- ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicy, and many others interact with these objects in ways that are similar to working with users  Remember to pipe objects to Get-Member or Format-List * to see which objects are available Spend time with the help for the ActiveDirectory module’s cmdlets to see which administrative actions are exposed