Get-ADOrganizationalUnit
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit
Gets one or more Active Directory organizational units.
Syntax
Parameter Set: Filter
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter <String> [-AuthType <ADAuthType> ] [-Credential <PSCredential> ] [-Properties <String[]> ] [-ResultPageSize <Int32> ] [-ResultSetSize <Int32> ] [-SearchBase <String> ] [-SearchScope <ADSearchScope> ] [-Server <String> ] [ <CommonParameters>]
Parameter Set: Identity
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit [-Identity] <ADOrganizationalUnit> [-AuthType <ADAuthType> ] [-Credential <PSCredential> ] [-Partition <String> ] [-Properties <String[]> ] [-Server <String> ] [ <CommonParameters>]
Parameter Set: LdapFilter
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -LDAPFilter <String> [-AuthType <ADAuthType> ] [-Credential <PSCredential> ] [-Properties <String[]> ] [-ResultPageSize <Int32> ] [-ResultSetSize <Int32> ] [-SearchBase <String> ] [-SearchScope <ADSearchScope> ] [-Server <String> ] [ <CommonParameters>]
Detailed Description
The Get-ADOrganizational unit cmdlet gets an organizational unit object or performs a search to retrieve multiple organizational units.
The Identity parameter specifies the Active Directory organizational unit to retrieve. You can identify an organizational unit by its distinguished name (DN) or GUID. You can also set the parameter to an organizational unit object variable, such as $<localOrganizationalunitObject> or pass an organizational unit object through the pipeline to the Identity parameter.
To search for and retrieve more than one organizational unit, use the Filter or LDAPFilter parameters. The Filter parameter uses the PowerShell Expression Language to write query strings for Active Directory. PowerShell Expression Language syntax provides rich type conversion support for value types received by the Filter parameter. For more information about the Filter parameter syntax, see about_ActiveDirectory_Filter. If you have existing LDAP query strings, you can use the LDAPFilter parameter.
This cmdlet retrieves a default set of organizational unit object properties. To retrieve additional properties use the Properties parameter. For more information about the how to determine the properties for computer objects, see the Properties parameter description.
Parameters
-AuthType<ADAuthType>
Specifies the authentication method to use. Possible values for this parameter include:
Negotiate or 0
Basic or 1
The default authentication method is Negotiate.
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection is required for the Basic authentication method.
The following example shows how to set this parameter to Basic.
-AuthType Basic
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.AuthType.Negotiate |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-Credential<PSCredential>
Specifies the user account credentials to use to perform this task. The default credentials are the credentials of the currently logged on user unless the cmdlet is run from an Active Directory PowerShell provider drive. If the cmdlet is run from such a provider drive, the account associated with the drive is the default.
To specify this parameter, you can type a user name, such as "User1" or "Domain01\User01" or you can specify a PSCredential object. If you specify a user name for this parameter, the cmdlet prompts for a password.
You can also create a PSCredential object by using a script or by using the Get-Credential cmdlet. You can then set the Credential parameter to the PSCredential object The following example shows how to create credentials.
$AdminCredentials = Get-Credential "Domain01\User01"
The following shows how to set the Credential parameter to these credentials.
-Credential $AdminCredentials
If the acting credentials do not have directory-level permission to perform the task, Active Directory PowerShell returns a terminating error.
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-Filter<String>
Specifies a query string that retrieves Active Directory objects. This string uses the PowerShell Expression Language syntax. The PowerShell Expression Language syntax provides rich type-conversion support for value types received by the Filter parameter. The syntax uses an in-order representation, which means that the operator is placed between the operand and the value. For more information about the Filter parameter, see about_ActiveDirectory_Filter.
Syntax:
The following syntax uses Backus-Naur form to show how to use the PowerShell Expression Language for this parameter.
<filter> ::= "{" <FilterComponentList> "}"
<FilterComponentList> ::= <FilterComponent> | <FilterComponent> <JoinOperator> <FilterComponent> | <NotOperator> <FilterComponent>
<FilterComponent> ::= <attr> <FilterOperator> <value> | "(" <FilterComponent> ")"
<FilterOperator> ::= "-eq" | "-le" | "-ge" | "-ne" | "-lt" | "-gt"| "-approx" | "-bor" | "-band" | "-recursivematch" | "-like" | "-notlike"
<JoinOperator> ::= "-and" | "-or"
<NotOperator> ::= "-not"
<attr> ::= <PropertyName> | <LDAPDisplayName of the attribute>
<value>::= <compare this value with an <attr> by using the specified <FilterOperator>>
For a list of supported types for <value>, see about_ActiveDirectory_ObjectModel.
Examples:
The following examples show how to use this syntax with Active Directory cmdlets.
To get all objects of the type specified by the cmdlet, use the asterisk wildcard:
All user objects:
Get-ADUser -Filter *
-or-
All computer objects:
Get-ADComputer -Filter *
To get all user objects that have an e-mail message attribute, use one of the following commands:
Get-ADUser -Filter {EmailAddress -like "*"}
Get-ADUser -Filter {mail -like "*"}
-or-
Get-ADObject -Filter {(mail -like "*") -and (ObjectClass -eq "user")}
Note: PowerShell wildcards other than "*", such as "?" are not supported by the Filter syntax.
To get all users objects that have surname of Smith and that have an e-mail attribute, use one of the following commands:
Get-ADUser -filter {(EmailAddress -like "*") -and (Surname -eq "smith")}
-or-
Get-ADUser -filter {(mail -eq "*") -and (sn -eq "Smith")}
To get all user objects who have not logged on since January 1, 2007, use the following commands:
$logonDate = New-Object System.DateTime(2007, 1, 1)
Get-ADUser -filter { lastLogon -le $logonDate }
To get all groups that have a group category of Security and a group scope of Global, use one of the following commands:
Get-ADGroup -filter {GroupCategory -eq "Security" -and GroupScope -eq "Global"}
-or-
Get-ADGroup -filter {GroupType -band 0x80000000}
Note: To query using LDAP query strings, use the LDAPFilter parameter.
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
true |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-Identity<ADOrganizationalUnit>
Specifies the identity of an Active Directory organizational unit object. The parameter accepts the following identity formats. The identifier in parentheses is the LDAP display name for the attribute that contains the identity.
Distinguished Name
Example: OU=Europe,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=contoso,DC=com
GUID (objectGUID)
Example: 599c3d2e-f72d-4d20-8a88-030d99495f20
The cmdlet searches the default naming context or partition to find the object. If two or more objects are found, the cmdlet returns a non-terminating error.
This parameter can also get this object through the pipeline or you can set this parameter to an object instance.
This example shows how to set the parameter to a distinguished name.
-Identity "OU=Europe,CN=Users,DC=corp,DC=contoso,DC=com"
This example shows how to set this parameter to an organizational unit object instance named "OUinstance".
-Identity $OUInstance
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
true |
Position? |
1 |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
true (ByValue) |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-LDAPFilter<String>
Specifies an LDAP query string that is used to filter Active Directory objects. You can use this parameter to run your existing LDAP queries. The Filter parameter syntax supports the same functionality as the LDAP syntax. For more information, see the Filter parameter description and the about_ActiveDirectory_Filter.
The following example shows how to set this parameter to search for all objects in the organizational unit specified by the SearchBase parameter with a name beginning with "sara".
-LDAPFilter "(name=sara*)" -SearchScope Subtree -SearchBase "DC=NA,DC=fabrikam,DC=com"
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
true |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-Partition<String>
Specifies the distinguished name of an Active Directory partition. The distinguished name must be one of the naming contexts on the current directory server. The cmdlet searches this partition to find the object defined by the Identity parameter.
The following two examples show how to specify a value for this parameter.
-Partition "CN=Configuration,DC=EUROPE,DC=TEST,DC=CONTOSO,DC=COM"
-Partition "CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=EUROPE,DC=TEST,DC=CONTOSO,DC=COM"
In many cases, a default value will be used for the Partition parameter if no value is specified. The rules for determining the default value are given below. Note that rules listed first are evaluated first and once a default value can be determined, no further rules will be evaluated.
In AD DS environments, a default value for Partition will be set in the following cases: - If the Identity parameter is set to a distinguished name, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from this distinguished name.
- If running cmdlets from an Active Directory provider drive, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from the current path in the drive.
- If none of the previous cases apply, the default value of Partition will be set to the default partition or naming context of the target domain.
In AD LDS environments, a default value for Partition will be set in the following cases:
- If the Identity parameter is set to a distinguished name, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from this distinguished name.
- If running cmdlets from an Active Directory provider drive, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from the current path in the drive.
- If the target AD LDS instance has a default naming context, the default value of Partition will be set to the default naming context. To specify a default naming context for an AD LDS environment, set the msDS-defaultNamingContext property of the Active Directory directory service agent (DSA) object (nTDSDSA) for the AD LDS instance.
- If none of the previous cases apply, the Partition parameter will not take any default value.
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-Properties<String[]>
Specifies the properties of the output object to retrieve from the server. Use this parameter to retrieve properties that are not included in the default set.
Specify properties for this parameter as a comma-separated list of names. To display all of the attributes that are set on the object, specify * (asterisk).
To specify an individual extended property, use the name of the property. For properties that are not default or extended properties, you must specify the LDAP display name of the attribute.
To retrieve properties and display them for an object, you can use the Get-* cmdlet associated with the object and pass the output to the Get-Member cmdlet. The following examples show how to retrieve properties for a group where the Administrator's group is used as the sample group object.
Get-ADGroup -Identity Administrators | Get-Member
To retrieve and display the list of all the properties for an ADGroup object, use the following command:
Get-ADGroup -Identity Administrators -Properties *| Get-Member
The following examples show how to use the Properties parameter to retrieve individual properties as well as the default, extended or complete set of properties.
To retrieve the extended properties "OfficePhone" and "Organization" and the default properties of an ADUser object named "SaraDavis", use the following command:
GetADUser -Identity SaraDavis -Properties OfficePhone,Organization
To retrieve the properties with LDAP display names of "otherTelephone" and "otherMobile", in addition to the default properties for the same user, use the following command:
GetADUser -Identity SaraDavis -Properties otherTelephone, otherMobile |Get-Member
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-ResultPageSize<Int32>
Specifies the number of objects to include in one page for an Active Directory Domain Services query.
The default is 256 objects per page.
The following example shows how to set this parameter.
-ResultPageSize 500
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
256 |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-ResultSetSize<Int32>
Specifies the maximum number of objects to return for an Active Directory Domain Services query. If you want to receive all of the objects, set this parameter to $null (null value). You can use Ctrl+c to stop the query and return of objects.
The default is $null.
The following example shows how to set this parameter so that you receive all of the returned objects.
-ResultSetSize $null
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-SearchBase<String>
Specifies an Active Directory path to search under.
When you run a cmdlet from an Active Directory provider drive, the default value of this parameter is the current path of the drive.
When you run a cmdlet outside of an Active Directory provider drive against an AD DS target, the default value of this parameter is the default naming context of the target domain.
When you run a cmdlet outside of an Active Directory provider drive against an AD LDS target, the default value is the default naming context of the target LDS instance if one has been specified by setting the msDS-defaultNamingContext property of the Active Directory directory service agent (DSA) object (nTDSDSA) for the AD LDS instance. If no default naming context has been specified for the target AD LDS instance, then this parameter has no default value.
The following example shows how to set this parameter to search under an OU.
-SearchBase "ou=mfg,dc=noam,dc=corp,dc=contoso,dc=com"
When the value of the SearchBase parameter is set to an empty string and you are connected to a GC port, all partitions will be searched. If the value of the SearchBase parameter is set to an empty string and you are not connected to a GC port, an error will be thrown.
The following example shows how to set this parameter to an empty string. -SearchBase ""
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-SearchScope<ADSearchScope>
Specifies the scope of an Active Directory search. Possible values for this parameter are:
Base or 0
OneLevel or 1
Subtree or 2
A Base query searches only the current path or object. A OneLevel query searches the immediate children of that path or object. A Subtree query searches the current path or object and all children of that path or object.
The following example shows how to set this parameter to a subtree search.
-SearchScope Subtree
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
Subtree |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
-Server<String>
Specifies the Active Directory Domain Services instance to connect to, by providing one of the following values for a corresponding domain name or directory server. The service may be any of the following: Active Directory Lightweight Domain Services, Active Directory Domain Services or Active Directory Snapshot instance.
Domain name values:
Fully qualified domain name
Examples: corp.contoso.com
NetBIOS name
Example: CORP
Directory server values:
Fully qualified directory server name
Example: corp-DC12.corp.contoso.com
NetBIOS name
Example: corp-DC12
Fully qualified directory server name and port
Example: corp-DC12.corp.contoso.com:3268
The default value for the Server parameter is determined by one of the following methods in the order that they are listed:
-By using Server value from objects passed through the pipeline.
-By using the server information associated with the Active Directory PowerShell provider drive, when running under that drive.
-By using the domain of the computer running Windows PowerShell.
The following example shows how to specify a full qualified domain name as the parameter value.
-Server "corp.contoso.com"
Aliases |
none |
Required? |
false |
Position? |
named |
Default Value |
none |
Accept Pipeline Input? |
false |
Accept Wildcard Characters? |
false |
<CommonParameters>
This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Verbose, -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -OutBuffer, and -OutVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=113216).
Inputs
The input type is the type of the objects that you can pipe to the cmdlet.
None or Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADOrganizationalUnit
An organizational unit object is received by the Identity parameter.
Outputs
The output type is the type of the objects that the cmdlet emits.
Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADOrganizationalUnit
Returns one or more organizational unit objects.
This cmdlet returns a default set of ADOrganizational unit property values. To retrieve additional ADOrganizational unit properties, use the Properties parameter.
To view the properties for an ADOrganizational unit object, see the following examples. To run these examples, replace <organizational unit> with an organizational unit identifier such as the distinguished name (DN) of an organizational unit.
To get a list of the default set of properties of an ADOrganizational unit object, use the following command:
Get-ADOrganizational unit <organizational unit>| Get-Member
To get a list of all the properties of an ADOrganizational unit object, use the following command:
Get-ADOrganizational unit <organizational unit> -Properties * | Get-Member
Examples
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 --------------------------
Description
-----------
Gets all the Organizational Units in the domain
C:\PS>Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter 'Name -like "*"' | FT Name, DistinguishedName -A
Name DistinguishedName
---- -----------------
Domain Controllers OU=Domain Controllers,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
UserAccounts OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Sales OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Marketing OU=Marketing,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Production OU=Production,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
HumanResources OU=HumanResources,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
NorthAmerica OU=NorthAmerica,OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
SouthAmerica OU=SouthAmerica,OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Europe OU=Europe,OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
AsiaPacific OU=AsiaPacific,OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Finance OU=Finance,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Corporate OU=Corporate,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
ApplicationServers OU=ApplicationServers,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Groups OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
PasswordPolicyGroups OU=PasswordPolicyGroups,OU=Groups,OU=Managed,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
Managed OU=Managed,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
ServiceAccounts OU=ServiceAccounts,OU=Managed,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------
Description
-----------
Gets the Organizational Unit with DistinguishedName 'OU=AsiaPacific,OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM'.
C:\PS>Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Identity 'OU=AsiaPacific,OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM' | ft Name,Country,PostalCode,City,StreetAddress,State -A
Name Country PostalCode City StreetAddress State
---- ------- ---------- ---- ------------- -----
AsiaPacific AU 4171 Balmoral 45 Martens Place QLD
-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------
Description
-----------
Gets Organizational Units underneath the sales Organizational Unit using an LDAP filter.
C:\PS>Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -LDAPFilter '(name=*)' -SearchBase 'OU=Sales,OU=UserAccounts,DC=FABRIKAM,DC=COM' -SearchScope OneLevel | ft Name,Country,PostalCode,City,StreetAddress,State
Name Country PostalCode City StreetAddress State
---- ------- ---------- ---- ------------- -----
AsiaPacific AU 4171 Balmoral 45 Martens Place QLD
Europe UK NG34 0NI QUARRINGTON 22 Station Rd
NorthAmerica US 02142 Cambridge 1634 Randolph Street MA
Related topics
New-ADOrganizational unit
Set-ADOrganizational unit
Remove-ADOrganizational unit