Managing the Active Directory directory service

Article
10/08/2009

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Managing the Active Directory directory service

Using the Windows interface
Using command-line tools

Using the Windows interface

The following table lists some of the most common tasks for managing the Active Directory directory service, and the command-line tools you can use to perform them. For more information, click the corresponding link under Tool or Feature.

Task	Tool or feature
Administer Active Directory.	Administering Active Directory
Deploy Active Directory.	Deploying Active Directory
Create a specific desktop configuration of installed applications for a group of users, and manage desktop configurations for a group of users.	Group Policy (pre-GPMC)
Secure and manage user accounts and groups stored locally on your computer.	Local Users and Groups
Set up your directory structure.	Introduction to Active Directory

For more information about deploying Active Directory, see "Part 1: Designing and deploying directory services" at the Microsoft Windows Resource Kits Web site.

For more information about managing Active Directory, see the "Directory services guide" at the Microsoft Windows Resource Kits Web site.

Using command-line tools

Task	Command-line tool
Import or export data from the Active Directory directory service using files that store data in the comma-separated variable (CSV) format.	CSVDE
Restore default Group Policy objects to their original state (after initial installation).	Dcgpofix
Manage objects and information about those objects in Active Directory.	Directory service command-line tools
Display Group Policy settings and Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) for a user or computer.	Gpresult
Refresh local and Active Directory-based Group Policy settings, including security settings.	Gpupdate
Create, modify, or delete directory objects on computers running Windows Server 2003 family operating systems or Windows XP Professional; extend the schema, export Active Directory user and group information to other applications or services, or populate Active Directory with data from other directory services.	LDIFDE
Manage the Active Directory database.	Ntdsutil
Administer phone books.	Pbadmin

For more information about the command shell, see Command shell overview. For information about tools used to manage the command-prompt window, see Manage the command-prompt window. For an alphabetical list of all of the command-line tools, see Command-line reference A-Z.

Managing the Active Directory directory service