What is SelfADSI? What is ADSI?
What is SelfADSI ?
The SelfADSI Tutorial introduces administrators to the scripting in Active
Directory environments and other LDAP directory systems. The aim is to
understand and being able to develop directory scripts without having specific
previous knowledge in AD or LDAP. Preferred scripting language is Visual
Basic Script (VBScript). You may use the scripting examples given in the
Scripting Tutorial for own projects but please consider the Terms
of Use.
SelfADSI is a project of Philipp Foeckeler (CerroTorre
Networking). The tutorial arose from the personal demand to automate
processes and tasks in Active Directory environments.
This project resulted from the fact that the explanations given for developers
on the official Microsoft
web site turned out to be quite complex and confusing for beginners.
SelfADSI is designed as a tutorial for scripting with Visual Basic Script
- an expansion for developing with PowerShell is planned.
SelfADSI is developed during leisure time and advances constantly... If
you are looking for specific information or examples regarding ADSI which
you can not find here, or if there are topics in the table of contents
in which you might be interested in but which have no active links (yet)
- please be patient :)
What is ADSI ?
Generally, extensive control within an Active Directory Services forest
over directory objects and their attributes is possible via script. The
same applies for other directories like Novell eDirectory (NDS), Exchange
5.5 or OpenLDAP. The technical basis used here is always the Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). This protocol enables access
to directory services and their contained objects and attributes.
Microsoft provides the ADSI Interface (Active Directory Services
Interface) for this access which can be utilized in several scripting
and programming languages. Retrieving data from the Active Directory or other directory
services and the access to AD-objects or to objects of other directory
services is possible with simple scripts.
The SelfADSI scripting tutorial provides you with details about this interface
as well as the basics of the LDAP protocol. Furthermore, the essential
scripting environment (editing, running and debugging of scripts) is described.
Important Links about ADSI:
The main reference for the ADSI Interface.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Primer: ADSI-Scripting
Very detailed - even up to date for newer versions of Windows!