Chapter 10 - Overview of Directory Services Commands

Abstract

This chapter discusses the Directory Services command-line utilities (also known as DS commands). Windows Server 2003 includes a powerful set of command-line utilities for managing objects in the Active Directory database. The chapter introduces the basic syntax of the DS commands for managing Active Directory objects. These commands are handy for everyday directory database administration. Active Directory stores complete information about all types of objects, or object classes, in the network. These object classes include computers, servers, sites, subnets, users, groups, quotas, and directory partitions. Printer commands on the local computer as well as on a remote computer. The DSQuery command can be used with different types of objects to search for objects in Active Directory. The DSGet command can be used to display properties of specified objects; the DSAdd and DSRm commands to add objects to or remove objects from the directory database, respectively; the DSMod command to modify certain properties of specified objects; and the DSMove command to move objects from one container to another within the domain.